Strong Earthquake Shakes Japan

According to the Japan Meteorological Agency, a 6.2 magnitude earthquake shook the western and southern parts of Japan on Monday, leading to the injuring of at least seven people and seriously affecting all means of transportation, Reuters informs.


The epicenter of the quake was situated 140 kilometers below the surface of the earth on Kyushu Island, under the Oita prefecture, about 800 kilometers southwest of Tokyo.
The earthquake struck at 5.01 in the morning and was said to measure "lower 5" on the Japanese seven point intensity scale that measures the ground motion. This means that this type of quake can wreck roads and buildings that are not very resistant to particular type of movements like the ones today.

Other important cities, like Hiroshima, where the Mazda Motor Corp. manufacturing plants are localized, felt the quake as well but no casualties were reported. Mazda officials stated that no damages were caused to facilities in the area, yet the production was slightly affected, starting a bit late.

According to public broadcaster NHK, many local rail services' schedules had to be changed, since trains, especially the bullet ones, had to run at very low speeds, in order to comply with safety measures. Fortunately, there were no tsunami warnings issued.

Another earthquake followed in three hours time, measuring 4.8 degrees on the Richter scale and striking the island of Hokkaido, off the coast of Aomori, in the northern part of Japan, but no victim or damages reports were released up to this point.