Earthquake hits Japanese coast
A powerful earthquake has struck the southern coast of Japan, which hits the region with enough force to trigger a tsunami advisory, according to the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA). At the time of writing, there were no immediate signs of any major damage.
The JMA said that the quake hit with a magnitude of 7.1 and had been centred off the eastern coast of its southern main island of Kyushu at a depth of around 30km or 18.6 miles. Tsunami waves of up to 50 centimetres or 1.6ft were recorded along parts of the coast as well as on the nearby island of Shikoku around half an hour after the earthquake hit Japan.
Nichinan city was most strongly affected along with nearby areas in the prefecture of Miyazaki on Kyushu. Seismologists were holding an emergency meeting to examine whether the quake had affected the Nankai trough which had been the source of previous devastating earthquakes.
Nuclear pant operators on Kyushu and Shikoku said that they would be checking if there had been any damages to them. This has been a major concern after the enormous earthquake and tsunami in March 2011 that triggered a nuclear disaster in Fukushima. NHK, the Japanese public broadcaster said that there had been reports of broken windows at Miyazaki airport close to the epicentre.
Japan sits on the Pacific “ring of fire,” a line of seismic faults that encircle the Pacific ocean. It is one of the most earthquake-prone countries on the planet. Earlier this year, one hit the north-central region of Noto which killed over 240 people.
