A powerful 6.3-magnitude earthquake shook western Japan, injuring at least two dozen people – seven of them seriously – and damaging several houses.
The Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) said the quake hit early on Saturday morning near Awaji Island, just south of Kobe, at a depth of 15 kilometres.
The quake was initially measured at 6.0 on the JMA seismic intensity scale, though the agency later upgraded its magnitude to 6.3. The US Geological Survey measured the earthquake at 6.0 on the Richter scale, saying it struck at a more shallow depth of five kilometres.
No tsunami warning was issued, and the country’s Nuclear Regulation Authority said it has received no reports of problems at nuclear facilities.
Many of those who received more serious injuries were elderly people who tripped while attempting to flee, police said.
The earthquake was centred in the same region as the 1995 ‘Kobe earthquake,’ a magnitude 7.2 tremor which killed 6,434 people and caused more than $100 billion in damage.
