A strong, shallow earthquake hit central Japan on Friday afternoon, killing at least one person and injuring 22, but no tsunami warning was issued.
The magnitude 6.2 quake struck Ishikawa Prefecture at 2:42pm on the west coast of Japan’s main island of Honshu, the US Geological Survey said.
The Japan Meteorological Agency measured the quake at magnitude 6.5 and at a depth of about 12km, 300km northwest of Tokyo.
Photo: AP
One person was reported dead in Suzu city at the northern tip of Noto Peninsula in Ishikawa Prefecture, a city official said.
The Japan Times last night reported three collapsed houses and 22 injuries in the area.
Six homes were damaged and rain could trigger mudslides, causing further damage, the official said.
He did not say how the person died, but the Japanese Fire and Disaster Management Agency reported that a person was found without vital signs after falling from a ladder.
Two people were rescued from damaged buildings, the Japan Meteorological Agency said.
It said another person was injured when a cabinet fell on them, and two people were rescued from damaged buildings.
Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno told reporters that no abnormalities had been detected at the two nuclear power plants in the affected area.
A video broadcast by NHK public television showed a section of a hill that had crumbled and fallen on a house. It also broadcast a video that showed a room shaking for nearly half a minute.
Kenji Satake, a professor at the University of Tokyo Earthquake Research Institute, told NHK that aftershocks would likely continue for a week.
East Japan Railway Co said the super-express Shinkansen connecting Tokyo and Kanazawa in Ishikawa Prefecture was temporarily suspended for safety checks, but had resumed normal operations with delays.
Additional reporting by AFP
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