Magnitude 7.1 earthquake rocks Japan’s Kyushu region, tsunami alert issued

Image: IANS


A magnitude 7.1 earthquake struck Kumamoto Prefecture in Japan’s Kyushu region on Tuesday, the Japan ‌Meteorological Agency (JMA) said.

The weather agency has issued a tsunami warning for the Ariake and Yatsushiro seas, local media reports said. People have been asked to stay away from the ocean and the sea shore.

According to Reuters, the ​Japanese government has issued emergency earthquake warnings for Kumamoto, Nagasaki, Kagoshima, Fukuoka, Saga, ​Oita, and Miyazaki prefectures – all on Japan’s ​southern Kyushu island.

Notably, Japan is one of the world’s most earthquake-prone countries and is located along the “Ring of Fire” of volcanoes and oceanic ‌trenches ⁠partly encircling the Pacific Basin.

It accounts for nearly 20 per cent of the world’s earthquakes of magnitude 6.0 or more.

In an official statement, Kyushu ​Electric Power informed that there were no reports of irregularities at its Sendai and ​Genkai nuclear power stations post the ​earthquake.