M6.3 quake jolts western Japan, at least 23 injured

Senin, 15 April 2013 01:09

(TOKYO-Kyodo) A strong quake with a preliminary magnitude of 6.3 struck western Japan early Saturday, injuring at least 23 people in five prefectures, the Japan Meteorological Agency and police said.

The 5:33 a.m. quake registered lower 6 on Japan's seismic intensity scale of 7 on Awaji Island in Hyogo Prefecture, the highest intensity level recorded in western Japan since the 1995 Great Hanshin Earthquake. The quake originated near the island at a depth of around 15 kilometers, the agency said.

No tsunami warning was issued. More than 1,200 houses mainly on Awaji Island were damaged. A crack about 40-meters long was made on the grounds of an elementary school in the city of Sumoto on the island and liquefaction phenomenon was observed in nearby coastal areas.

The agency warned of possible aftershocks with an intensity of up to lower 5 over the coming week.

Of the 23 people aged between 1 and 95, seven sustained serious injuries, with an 87-year-old woman in Osaka hitting her head hard after falling over in the wake of the quake. An 82-year-old woman in Tsuruga, Fukui Prefecture, broke her leg as she fell out of bed in surprise following radio reports on the earthquake.

The National Police Agency said 14 people were injured in Hyogo Prefecture, five in Osaka Prefecture, two in Tokushima Prefecture and one each in Fukui and Okayama prefectures.

The central government has set up a task force at the prime minister's office and Prime Minister Shinzo Abe instructed the Cabinet's crisis management officials to gather information on quake damage, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga told reporters.

No quake damage was observed at nuclear facilities in western Japan including the Ikata power plant in Ehime Prefecture, the Shimane plant in Shimane Prefecture and an atomic laboratory in Osaka, their operators said. The Oi nuclear power plant in Fukui Prefecture, the only plant that currently has operating reactors in Japan, was unaffected.

A number of train services in Hyogo and surrounding areas were temporarily suspended for safety inspections, operators said.

Major airports in the area suffered no damage, the transport ministry said. Four planes delayed landing at Kansai International Airport in Osaka due to the quake, but they all arrived safely.

Other major infrastructure such as roads and bridges were unaffected and there have been no power outages.

In Hyogo, the magnitude-7.3 Great Hanshin Earthquake originating off the northern coast of Awaji Island caused extensive damage in Kobe and surrounding areas in 1995, killing about 6,400 people. The meteorological agency said the fault movements of the latest and 1995 quakes are different and that whether there is a link between the two is not yet known.