A 6,2-magnitude earthquake hit near the city of Iwaki in Japan on Monday, the United States Geological Survey (USGS) said, revising it to a slightly stronger quake than it initially reported.
Strong earthquakes have also hit Indonesia and India since Sunday, killing at least three people in central Indonesia.
The quake in Japan was centred 68km north-east of Iwaki, Honshu, and struck at 1.51pm GMT at a depth of 27km, the USGS said.
The agency earlier said the quake was a magnitude six, and was centred 72km north-east of Iwaki, striking at a depth of 39km.
Indonesia
In central Indonesia, at least three people were killed and 45 injured when powerful earthquakes struck off the coast of Sumbawa island on Sunday, a Health Ministry official said on Monday.
Several buildings, including a health clinic, collapsed in the island’s Bima district, said Rustam Pakaya, head of the ministry’s crisis centre. ”The casualties are likely to increase and we are still assessing the situation.”
The quakes affected the eastern side of Sumbawa island, a rugged volcanic island that gets fewer tourists than neighbouring Lombok and Bali.
The first quake of magnitude 6,7 struck 48km north-west of Raba in Sumbawa just after midnight, an official at the country’s meteorological agency said. A second quake of 6,8 struck about four hours later in the same area, triggering a brief tsunami warning, the official added. The USGS put the second quake at magnitude 6,3.
An earthquake measuring six also struck off the coast of Sumatra island in the early hours of Monday, about 100km south-west of Mukomuko in Bengkulu, the local meteorology agency said. There was no tsunami warning. On Sunday, a quake with a 6,2 magnitude hit the same area.
India
An earthquake measuring 4,3 hit the Indian capital and its surrounding areas at dawn on Monday, shaking high-rise buildings, the weather office and witnesses said.
The epicentre of the tremor, felt at 11.13pm GMT, was near the border of New Delhi and the neighbouring state of Haryana, which surrounds the capital on its north, west and south.
The USGS put the time of the earthquake at 11.17pm GMT and said it measured 4,6, and was at a depth of 10km.
One local TV channel said there were some cracks in buildings near the epicentre but the report could not be independently confirmed. There were no reports of any major damage elsewhere across the city of 14-million people.
People in many areas were shaken out of their beds and gathered in open spaces as their doors and windows rattled violently, the Hindi-language Star News channel said.
A tremor of a similar magnitude hit India’s financial capital of Mumbai and the surrounding Konkan region on Saturday but caused no damage. — Reuters