KUMAMOTO, Japan, April 14 (UPI) — A powerful preliminary 6.2-magnitude earthquake Thursday on southern Japan’s Kumamoto prefecture on Kyushu Island killed at least two people and is the first high-intensity quake since a magnitude-9.0 temblor five years ago, the U.S. Geological Surey said.
In the town of Mashiki in Kumamoto Prefecture, local authorities reported two deaths.
More than 200 people were being treated for injuries at three hospitals in Kumamoto City, hospital officials said. More than 20 homes have collapsed and several people are trapped under debris.
The earthquake struck at 9:26 p.m. local time. A major aftershock struck the same region at 10:07 p.m., logging an intensity of 6.0-magnitude on the Japanese scale, the Japanese weather agency said. Weaker aftershocks followed and no tsunami warnings were issued.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said the damage was still being assessed but several homes collapsed. Nearby nuclear facilities were not affected, Suga said.
The earthquake occurred at a depth of 6.2 miles, the U.S. Geological Survey reported. The quake’s epicenter was 4.3 miles southwest of Ueki and 385 miles south-southeast of Seoul, South Korea.
JR Kyushu suspended all operations on the Kyushu Shinkansen Line after the quake.
Kyushu Electric Power Co. reported no abnormalities in its Sendai nuclear plant in the Kagoshima Prefecture.
Shikoku Electric Power Co. said its Ikata nuclear plant, which has been idled, sustained no damage from the latest quake.
On March 11, 2011, a magnitude-9 earthquake shook northeastern Japan, unleashing a tsunami.
Four years after the quake, about 230,000 people who lost their homes were still living in temporary housing, Japan’s Reconstruction Agency said. More than 16,000 people were killed and 2,500 remain missing. The total damage from the earthquake and tsunami are estimated at $300 billion, according to the Japanese government.
