M6.6 quake hits western Japan, no major damage reported

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TOKYO. KAZINFORM - An earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 6.6 struck Tottori and other areas of western Japan on Friday afternoon, the Japan Meteorological Agency said, causing a power outage and damage to some houses. No tsunami warning was issued, Kyodo reports.

While the government said there were about a dozen reports of injuries, Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Koichi Hagiuda said there had been no reports of "major damage" so far.

"There are no abnormalities at nuclear power plants," industry minister Hiroshige Seko said separately, adding he has instructed his ministry to work closely with municipalities to grasp the extent of the damage.

The 2:07 p.m. quake registered lower 6 on the Japanese seismic intensity scale of 7 in Kurayoshi, Yurihama and Hokuei in Tottori Prefecture, and upper 5 in a wide area of Tottori and Okayama prefectures, according to the agency.

The agency said the quake originated in central Tottori Prefecture on the Sea of Japan coast at a depth of around 11 kilometers, revising the earlier-announced 10 km.

It warned that the area that logged strong quakes could experience quakes with a magnitude of up to lower 6 in the next week or so.

The prefecture and its vicinity were struck by a series of quakes Friday before and after the major quake.

There were reports of several people sustaining injuries and damage to homes, according to local fire departments.

West Japan Railway Co. said it was forced to temporarily suspend operation of shinkansen bullet trains between Shin-Osaka and Hakata. Okayama Airport located south of Tottori temporarily closed its runway.

The quake caused a blackout affecting nearly 40,000 households in Tottori, according to Chugoku Electric Power Co.

Japan Display Inc., a supplier of smartphone and tablet computer display panels, said it had suspended operation of some of its production lines at its Tottori plant.

No abnormalities were detected at the Shimane nuclear plant, which is currently offline, in nearby Shimane Prefecture, according to the utility.

Shikoku Electric Power Co. said it had detected no abnormalities at the No. 3 reactor of the Ikata nuclear plant that has been in operation since August in Ehime Prefecture, where the quake registered up to 4 on the intensity scale.

There were also no abnormalities at the Monju prototype fast breeder reactor in Fukui Prefecture, east of Tottori, according to the Japan Atomic Energy Agency.

Source: Kyodo

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