Baku, Azerbaijan, Oct. 21
Trend:
A powerful earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 6.6 shook parts of western Honshu early Friday afternoon, but no tsunami warning was issued, the Japan Times reports.
The Meteorological Agency said the earthquake occurred at 2:07 p.m. in central Tottori Prefecture, about 700 km (430 miles) west of Tokyo, at a depth of 10 km (6 miles) underground. It was followed by a weaker aftershock about 30 minutes later.
The agency said there was no danger of a tsunami from the inland temblor.
There were no immediate reports of injuries or damage from the quake.
According to NHK, because of the earthquake West Japan Railway Co. temporarily suspended all services on the Sanyo Shinkansen Line between Shin-Osaka and Hakata stations due to a power outage.
The quake registered lower 6 on the Japanese seismic scale of 7 in parts of Tottori Prefecture, and upper 5 in a wide area in Tottori and Okayama prefectures, according to the agency.
It caused a blackout which affected nearly 40,000 households in Tottori Prefecture, according to Chugoku Electric Power Co.
No abnormalities were detected at the Shimane nuclear plant, which is currently off-line, in nearby Shimane Prefecture, according to the utility.
Okayama airport closed its runway to check its safety, airport officials said.
According to local officials a house in the town of Yurihama, in central Tottori Prefecture, was destroyed, and a number of dwellings in other parts of the prefecture suffered damage.