Residents evacuate southwestern Japan island after strong quake
About a dozen people evacuated a remote island in southwestern Japan on Friday, the day after a strong earthquake with a magnitude of 5.5 hit the area following about two weeks of smaller quakes, Kyodo reports.
Akuseki Island on the Tokara island chain in Kagoshima Prefecture logged a quake measuring in the lower 6 on the Japanese seismic intensity scale of 7 Thursday afternoon. All 76 people on the island at the time were soon confirmed to be uninjured.
As quakes of up to a 4 on the scale hit the island on Friday morning, the 13 evacuees, including children and the elderly, boarded a ferry readied by the village of Toshima, the municipality covering the island.
Village officials said there could be more evacuees to come as some people may not have been able to apply for passage on the vessel in time.
A quake measuring a lower 6 is described by the weather agency as a level at which it becomes difficult to remain standing, with possible damage to building tiles and windows.
The Tokara island chain region has been hit by over 1,000 felt quakes since June 21, with quakes measuring in the lower 5 logged on Monday and Wednesday, according to a local meteorological observatory.
In December 2021, a quake with a seismic intensity of a lower 5 struck Akuseki Island, also prompting some islanders to flee to the main island of Kyushu and Amami Island nearby to the south.
Recall that an island chain in southwestern Japan has been hit by over 1,000 felt earthquakes, nearly two weeks since temblors began being frequently observed in the area, a local branch of the weather agency said Thursday.
