Strong quakes hit western Japan, no tsunami observed
A series of strong earthquakes, including the initial one with a magnitude of 6.4, rattled the western Japan prefectures of Shimane and Tottori on Tuesday, while no tsunami was observed, Kyodo reported.
As of Tuesday evening, local governments confirmed four injuries in Shimane Prefecture and one in Tottori, along with two in neighboring Hiroshima and one in Okayama.
The Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) urged vigilance, warning that seismic activity remains brisk and quakes of similar scale could continue for up to a week.
The main quake struck at 10:18 a.m. in eastern Shimane Prefecture at a depth of 11 kilometers. Its magnitude is being revised from 6.2, measuring upper 5 on Japan’s seismic intensity scale of 7. It was quickly followed by aftershocks, including M5.1 at 10:28 a.m. and M5.4 at 10:37 a.m.
Damage was reported across affected areas.
It became the first quake of upper 5 or stronger in the region since a lower 6 struck Tottori in October 2016 and another upper 5 hit Shimane in April 2018.
Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi established a liaison office and pledged that the government “will continue to do everything possible to respond.”
Moment 6.2 magnitude earthquake felt in Japan. https://t.co/EemJn6Tg6N pic.twitter.com/2PfksGIEus
— Breaking911 (@Breaking911) January 6, 2026
A nuclear power plant in western Japan is working “as normal”, its parent company said on Tuesday Jan. 6, after an earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 6.2 hit its premises in Japan’s Chugoku region, followed by a series of aftershocks.
— GMA Integrated News (@gmanews) January 6, 2026
The epicentre of the first… pic.twitter.com/t3PlyEQOeH
Chugoku Electric Power Co. confirmed no abnormalities at the Shimane nuclear power plant in Matsue.
Bullet train services on the Sanyo Shinkansen Line between Shin-Osaka and Hakata were halted due to a power outage but resumed at around 1 p.m.
Earlier, it was reported that an earthquake had been recorded on the border of Kazakhstan's Zhambyl and Almaty regions.
