Strong Quake Rocks Western Japan, Killing 4 People

June 19, 2018

Osaka- A strong earthquake measuring up to lower 6, the third-highest level on Japan's seismic intensity scale of 7, rocked western areas of the country on Monday morning, killing four people and disrupting transport and other infrastructure services.

The quake also left over 300 people injured in six prefectures.

Following the quake, estimated to have a magnitude of 6.1, a nine-year-old girl died after being trapped under a wall that collapsed onto a sidewalk next to an elementary school in Takatsuki, Osaka Prefecture, according to prefectural police.

The Takatsuki government apologized for the incident, saying that the collapsed wall of the school's swimming pool facility violated the construction code.

The three other victims were an 80-year-old man in the city of Osaka, the prefecture's capital, an 85-year-old man in Ibaraki in the same prefecture, and an 81-year-old woman also in Takatsuki. They died after being hit by a collapsed wall or furniture, local authorities said.

A total of 328 people sustained injuries in Osaka Prefecture, while 47 were injured in Mie, Shiga, Kyoto, Hyogo and Nara prefectures.

The Osaka prefectural government initially announced that many were injured at Kansai International Airport in the Osaka city of Izumisano, but later said the information was wrong.

Up to about 1,500 people took refuge at some 570 shelters in Osaka Prefecture, with many concrete block walls and other structures damaged by the quake.

The earthquake, which struck at around 7:58 a.m. Monday (10:58 p.m. Sunday GMT), is believed to have occurred at a depth of about 13 kilometers in the northern part of the prefecture, the Japan Meteorological Agency said.

The quake logged lower 6 in Kita Ward in the city of Osaka, and in Hirakata and Minoo, as well as Takatsuki and Ibaraki, all in Osaka Prefecture.

It was the first quake with an intensity of lower 6 or stronger to hit Osaka Prefecture since the agency started quake observations in 1923.

The fourth-highest level of upper 5 was registered in Miyakojima, Higashiyodogawa and Yodogawa wards, all in the city of Osaka, and in the Osaka Prefecture cities of Toyonaka and Suita, as well as in the cities of Kyoto, Kameoka and Yawata in the neighboring prefecture of Kyoto.

The central government set up a disaster response task force at the prime minister's office in Tokyo. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe issued instructions to assess the damage promptly.

"The government is responding in a unified manner under the basic principle of putting people's lives first," Abe told reporters.

The Osaka prefectural government called for the dispatch of Ground Self-Defense Force personnel for disaster-relief activities.

About 170,000 households, mainly in Osaka Prefecture, temporarily suffered power outages following the quake, Kansai Electric Power Co. said.

In some areas, gas and water supply remained unavailable as of Monday night.

No irregularities were reported at Kansai Electric's Oi, Takahama and Mihama nuclear power stations in Fukui Prefecture, northeast of Kyoto, and at Japan Atomic Power Co.'s Tsuruga nuclear plant, also in Fukui, according to the operators.

Shinkansen high-speed train services were briefly halted between Maibara and Shin-Osaka stations on the Tokaido Shinkansen Line of Central Japan Railway Co., or JR Tokai, and between Shin-Osaka and Okayama stations on the Sanyo Shinkansen Line of West Japan Railway Co., or JR West.

Other disrupted JR railway services were mostly resumed within Monday, but more than 2.4 million people were affected.

Subway operations of Osaka Metro Co. were fully resumed at 9:40 p.m.

Japan Airlines; and All Nippon Airways canceled 60 and 14 flights, respectively, mainly at Osaka International Airport at Itami, in Hyogo, affecting a total of 7,400 passengers.

A series of aftershocks jolted the region on Monday. The meteorological agency warned of possible aftershocks of up to lower 6 on the Japanese scale over the next week or so.

"As the focus of the quake is very close to the Arima-Takatsuki fault zone, we're analyzing data to see whether a part of the zone moved," Toshiyuki Matsumori, head of the agency's earthquake and tsunami observation division, told a press conference.

In neighboring Hyogo Prefecture, the 7.3-magnitude Great Hanshin Earthquake occurred in January 1995, measuring the highest reading of 7 on the Japanese scale for the first time ever and leaving more than 6,400 people dead and 43,792 others injured. Jiji Press