A powerful earthquake jolted southern Japan on Sunday, injuring killing an elderly woman and injuring at least 381 people, disrupting transport and prompting a tsunami warning that was later cancelled. Buildings swayed, and smaller aftershocks continued to rattle the region.
The magnitude-seven quake, which hit about 70km off the coast of Kyushu island at 10.53am local time, was centred at an ”extremely shallow” depth below the ocean floor, the Meteorological Agency said.
Officials reported water and gas main breaks, and power blackouts. Railways and high-speed bullet-train service were halted after the earthquake triggered an automatic safety system, public broadcaster NHK TV reported. Telephone service in the area was jammed.
About 100 residents of Genkai, a tiny island off the coast of Kyushu, were evacuated after homes collapsed and roofs caved in, and village officials requested emergency help from Japanese troops, NHK said.
Minutes after the quake, the Meteorological Agency warned of a possible tsunami triggered by the quake, and urged people near the sea to move to higher ground. But within an hour, the agency said there was no tsunami danger.
”There may be some disturbance of the ocean’s surface, but we aren’t worried about tsunami damage,” the Meteorological Agency’s Masahiro Yamamoto told reporters.
Dozens of aftershocks — one with a magnitude of 4,2 — followed the initial quake. Authorities ordered buildings in Fukuoka city, about 899km south-west of Tokyo, to be evacuated, and warned of landslides around Fukuoka, Saga and Nagasaki prefectures (states).
”We expect aftershocks to continue,” Yamamoto said.
At least 381 people, most in hard-hit Fukuoka prefecture, were injured by the quake, with some struck by toppling cabinets, items falling off shelves or shattered glass, and one burned by a cooking stove, NHK TV said.
In Okawa city, a 56-year-old man suffered broken bones after trying to jump to safety from the second floor of his home, the network said.
One person was reportedly pinned inside a collapsed home.
The initial jolt, which lasted about 30 seconds, toppled desks and knocked books off shelves and made it difficult to stand, said a Fukuoka prefectural police spokesperson, who declined to be identified.
Fukuoka airport temporarily closed its runway to assess the extent of any damage, but was reopened after no cracks were found, NHK said.
The network showed tall office buildings and street lamps in the centre of Fukuoka city, nearest the epicentre, shaking violently.
The floor and desks at an office was strewn with paper, tapes and other items that had been flung off desks and shelves.
In residential areas, windows had shattered, the pavement was lined with fissures and parts of walls had flaked off.
The quake was felt as far away as South Korea’s port city of Busan, where it shook buildings and was registered at a magnitude of four to five on the Richter scale. No damage was immediately reported, a police spokesperson in Busan said on condition of anonymity.
Japan, which rests atop several tectonic plates, is among the world’s most earthquake-prone countries.
A magnitude-seven quake can cause widespread damage if it is centred in a heavily populated area.
On October 23, a magnitude 6,8 earthquake struck Niigata, about 260km north-west of Tokyo, killing 40 people and damaging more than 6 000 homes. The jolt was the deadliest to hit Japan since 1995, when a magnitude 7,3 quake killed 6 433 people in the western city of Kobe.
On December 26, a nine-magnitude quake off Indonesia triggered a massive tsunami that devastated coastlines in 11 Asian and African countries, killing at least 295 000 people. — Sapa-AP