A magnitude 6.6 earthquake, measuring a susceptible 6 on Japan’s seismic depth scale, struck off the west coast of Shikoku island on Wednesday evening, however government reported no main injury or hyperlink to the Nankai Trough quake.
There used to be no tsunami from the quake, which struck at 11:14 p.m., and experiences advised simplest minor accidents and injury.
The quake measured a susceptible 6 — the 3rd perfect stage — within the Ehime Prefecture the town of Ainan and the Kochi Prefecture town of Sukumo. Placing at a intensity of 39 kilometers, its epicenter used to be within the Bungo Channel, a instantly isolating the islands of Kyushu and Shikoku.
The temblor left 9 folks with mild accidents in Ehime, Kochi and Oita prefectures, government mentioned Thursday morning. Minor damages in some spaces, together with damaged water pipes, fallen streetlights and a landslide on a countrywide roadway, were reported, however there used to be no hearth within the aftermath of the quake, they mentioned.
A number of the injured, a girl in Ainan in her 70s used to be taken to a sanatorium after collapsing, in line with a neighborhood hearth division.
No abnormalities were detected at Shikoku Electrical Energy’s Ikata nuclear energy plant in Ehime Prefecture, in line with the Nuclear Law Authority.
The Meteorological Company first of all reported the quake as magnitude 6.4, however later revised the determine to six.6.
Satoshi Harada, head of the company’s earthquake and tsunami tracking department, informed a information convention early Thursday that the magnitude of 6.6 is underneath the 6.8 threshold that may necessitate an investigation into any relation with the Nankai Trough earthquake. He added that whilst this quake doesn’t meet the factors for additional learn about in that context, the company will factor updates and convene knowledgeable panels as wanted.
A countrywide highway is blocked by way of fallen rocks following the magnitude 6.6 earthquake in Ozu, Ehime Prefecture, on Thursday.
| Jiji
Harada famous that seismic process has remained heightened for the reason that quake. The company has suggested citizens of spaces hit by way of the quake to watch out of seismic process and heavy rainfall for the following week or so, as the danger of space collapses and landslides has greater in spaces the place the tremors have been robust.
The quake has brought about anxieties relating to the opportunity of an upcoming Nankai Trough earthquake, which generally happens each and every 100-150 years, with the closing one going on 70 years in the past.
The Nankai Trough, stretching from the Tokai area to offshore jap Kyushu, is a hotbed of geological stress the place the oceanic plate is subducting underneath the continental plate, collecting pressure on the boundary. Primary earthquakes and tsunamis are anticipated when this stress releases all of sudden.
“This earthquake used to be brought about by way of a fault shift inside the plate, which is deeper than the boundary between the plates,” Harada defined on the convention.
“At this level, we can not say whether or not the likelihood of a Nankai Trough earthquake has greater or reduced because of this match,” he mentioned. The company will proceed to carefully observe the area.
Quite massive earthquakes have came about previously within the neighborhood of the Bungo Channel, together with an earthquake with a most depth of higher 5 in Oita Prefecture in July 2015.
In line with NHK, that is the primary time since 1996, when the present Eastern seismic depth scale used to be presented, {that a} tremor of a susceptible 6 or upper has been seen in Ehime and Kochi prefectures.
For the ones unaccustomed to huge quakes, Wednesday evening got here as an enormous surprise.
Within the the town of Ainan, the place the earthquake registered a susceptible 6, the have an effect on used to be distinctly felt at a neighborhood comfort retailer. A number of cup noodles and sake bottles toppled from the cabinets. The clerk described the ordeal: “It began shaking all of sudden, then my mobile phone’s earthquake alert went off. The shaking felt find it irresistible lasted a very long time, however I controlled to carry on by way of clinging to my table.”
At a close-by Eastern-style pub owned by way of Keiichi Fujisawa, 50, the tremor brought about plates to crash down from cabinets. “This used to be the largest quake I’ve ever skilled,” he mentioned. “I want to reorganize to make sure not anything bad falls subsequent time.”
Within the town of Seiyo, additionally in Ehime Prefecture, the quake’s depth used to be recorded at a susceptible 5. At a cafe there, 4 consumers ducked beneath tables for defense. The landlord, a girl in her 80s, expressed her surprise. “It jogged my memory of the Nice Hanshin Earthquake of 1995. I have won a number of calls checking in on me to verify I’m secure.”
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