An earthquake measuring 4,3 on the Richter scale has hit large areas north of Tokyo but there were no immediate reports of damage or injuries from the second tremor to hit Japan on Tuesday, officials said.
The quake occurred at 9.41pm local time, with the focus located 10km underground in Niigata, about 250km north of the capital, the meteorological agency said.
Earlier in the day, a strong earthquake measuring 6,4 on the Richter scale jolted western and central Japan, following two major tremors at the weekend, the agency said.
Tuesday’s first quake struck at about 8.29am local time with a focus located off Wakayama prefecture, about 300km south-west of Tokyo.
Police in Wakayama and Shizuoka, prefectures most badly shaken by the quake, said they had no immediate reports of damage or injuries.
On Sunday, two strong quakes measuring 6,9 and 7,4 on the Richter scale shook the same area within five hours of each other, setting off small tidal waves. More than 40 people were injured but there was no major damage.
The weather bureau has said there is no danger of tidal waves from Tuesday’s quakes.
The government has said that Sunday’s jolts were triggered on the same focus, but denied that they were a sign that a huge quake forecast by seismologists could strike the Tonankai region, the Pacific coastline of Wakayama.
In 1944, a massive earthquake measuring eight on the Richter scale hit the area, killing at least 1 223 people. Seismologists forecast an equally powerful earthquake will jolt the same area in the first half of this century.
”Sunday’s quakes are not regarded as a sign of an expected Tonankai earthquake,” said an official at the government’s earthquake research committee.
The committee on Wednesday will discuss whether the latest quake was a precursor to the next big one, he said.
The most frequently forecast scenario for another major earthquake in Japan is one that could devastate the Tokai region around Mount Fuji in central Japan. — Sapa-AFP
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