Strong quake hits south Japan, at least 6 injured
(Agencies)
Updated: 2005-04-20 09:30

A strong earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 5.8 hit Japan's southernmost main island of Kyushu early on Wednesday, injuring at least six people.

The early morning quake, followed by two smaller jolts, shook the region around the city of Fukuoka, about 560 miles southwest of Tokyo, at 6:11 a.m. (5:11 p.m. EDT Tuesday), the Japan Meteorological Agency said. No tsunami warning was issued.

At least six people were injured in the city, public broadcaster NHK said.

Japanese students take a close look at the notice board on the train service that was suspended following an earthquake at a railway station in Fukuoka, southern Japan, on Wednesday April 20, 2005. An earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 5.8 struck southern Japan on Wednesday, swaying buildings and shattering windows. Six people were reported injured, but there was no danger of a tsunami. [AP]

An earthquake with the magnitude of 7.0 hit the same area on March 20, killing one person and injuring about 500. An agency official said Wednesday's tremors were considered aftershocks.

Traffic was stopped on some highways in the region and high-speed train services were disrupted, NHK said.

"The shaking was very violent ... It lasted about 10 seconds," Yutaka Ishiyama, a local town official, told NHK.

The Meteorological Agency, which originally issued a magnitude reading of 5.7 for the first quake, said two smaller tremors with magnitudes of 4.6 and 4.5 followed.

The focus of the first quake was about 9 miles below the seabed near the island of Genkaijima, which suffered the worst damage in the March quake.

The magnitude of the earthquakes was measured according to a technique similar to the Richter scale, but adjusted for Japan's geological characteristics.

Earthquakes are common in Japan, one of the world's most seismically active areas. The country accounts for about 20 percent of the world's earthquakes of magnitude 6 or greater.

In October 2004, an earthquake with a magnitude of 6.8 struck the Niigata region in northern Japan, killing about 40 people and injuring more than 3,000.

That was the deadliest quake since a magnitude 7.3 tremor hit the city of Kobe in 1995, killing more than 6,400.

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