Earthquake of 6.1 strikes nation as several injured; routine halted

The recent earthquake of 6.1 has injured several and has the people terrified of the unknown outcome.

Several people were feared dead after a strong earthquake hit Osaka on Monday morning, rattling one of Japan’s industrial heartlands and halting trains and factories across the region.

The earthquake struck at 7:58 AM local time (04:28 AM in India), with an initial magnitude of 5.9 later revised upwards to 6.1. At 13 kilometres (8.1 miles) it was relatively shallow and caused heavy shaking of lower 6 on the Japanese scale of 7. As the quake was centred inland, there was no fear of a tsunami.

All trains and subways across Osaka city were halted, and the bullet train that links Osaka to Tokyo was stopped. More than 170,000 homes were without power as of 9:50 a.m., regional utility Kansai Electric Power Co. said, although there were no reports of abnormalities at its nuclear plants in the region.

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Japan’s Fire and Disaster Management Agency said that as of 10 a.m. there were 17 reported injuries, including one person found without vital signs. At least one person was confirmed dead, according to national broadcaster NHK, with a nine-year-old girl also found without vital signs after a school wall fell on her.

While the quake appeared to spare the region of major infrastructural damage, the Japan Meteorological Agency warned that strong aftershocks could occur, particularly in the next two to three days. In 2016, the magnitude 7 earthquake that caused significant damage and multiple casualties in southern Kumamoto was preceded two days earlier by a magnitude 6.2 temblor.

The quake struck in one of Japan’s main manufacturing heartlands, home to companies including Panasonic Corp., Nintendo Co. and Keyence Corp, and plants across the area were halted as firms assessed the damage. Automakers Honda Motor Co., Mitsubishi Motors Corp. and Toyota Motor Corp. unit Daihatsu all stopped production at plants in the region. JXTG Energy shut its Osaka refinery and halted shipments.

A major earthquake has long been feared in the area, which is located near several major faults. In 1995, a magnitude 6.9 earthquake killed more than 6,000 people when it struck in neighbouring Kobe.