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The earthquake, which struck at 2:07 p.m. local time on Friday, was about 8.5 kilometers (5.3 miles) south of the city of Kurayoshi, which is located in Tottori Prefecture. It struck on land and at a depth of just 10 kilometers (6.2 miles), making it a very shallow earthquake.



Japan's Earthquake Early Warning System initially put the magnitude of the earthquake at 6.7, but the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) revised the magnitude down to 6.6. The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), meanwhile, put the magnitude significantly lower, at 6.2.



"This earthquake poses no tsunami risk," JMA said.



Tremors were felt across the western part of the island, with Tottori Prefecture and Okayama Prefecture reporting the strongest shaking, but there was no immediate indication that the earthquake had caused serious damage or fatalities.



Japanese broadcaster NHK reported that at least 10 people had suffered injuries in the city of Kurayoshi, where emergency services reported minor damage in a number of buildings, including City Hall and a hospital. In addition, at least 48,000 customers in Kurayoshi are without power.



Japan's Fire and Disaster Management Agency (FDMA) said that a woman had suffered burn injuries in Tottori City as a result of the earthquake, and a rescue helicopter had spotted a collapsed building in Yurihama. It was not immediately known whether anyone was injured in the collapse.



Elsewhere, at least two people were injured in the town of Hokuei and a man in his 50s suffered a head injury in the port city of Kure in Hiroshima Prefecture.



Japan sits on the so-called 'Pacific Ring of Fire', an arc of fault lines circling the Pacific Basin which is prone to frequent and large earthquakes. Volcanic eruptions also occur frequently in the region.



In March 2011, an enormous 9.0-magnitude earthquake struck off the coast of northeastern Japan, generating a devastating tsunami that wiped out entire communities and killed at least 15,893 people and left more than 2,500 others missing and presumed dead.



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</s>Why did this happen?

Please make sure your browser supports JavaScript and cookies and that you are not blocking them from loading. For more information you can review our Terms of Service and Cookie Policy.</s>TOKYO — A powerful earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 6.6 shakes western Japan, but there is no danger of a tsunami being caused.

The Meteorological Agency said the earthquake occurred Friday at 2:10 p.m. local time in Japan's western prefecture of Tottori, about 700 west of Tokyo, at a depth of 10 underground.</s>TOKYO: A strong 6.2 magnitude earthquake hit western Japan on Friday, severely shaking the region and reportedly causing several injuries, damaging power lines and collapsing a house.

The quake struck shortly after 2 p.m. (0500 GMT) in Tottori prefecture at a shallow depth of 10 kilometers (six miles). There was no tsunami risk.

The US Geological Survey initially pegged the quake’s magnitude at 6.6 before downgrading it.

Public broadcaster NHK quoted local officials as saying they had received reports that a house collapsed in the town of Yurihama, while fires broke out in another part of the prefecture, without giving details.

In Kurayoshi City, the fire department reported receiving seven emergency calls for injuries.

“It was a shallow quake. In the past, there were a series of powerful quakes in (this region),” said Takuya Nishimura, associate professor at Kyoto University’s Research Center For Earthquake Prediction.

“It’s possible that an aftershock similar to or bigger than this scale will hit the region,” he told NHK.

An aftershock at a magnitude of 5.0 struck after the initial quake, Japan’s meteorological agency said.

“We felt fairly strong jolts, which I think were the biggest in years,” Suminori Sakinada, a local government official in Tottori, told Agence France-Presse.

Bullet train services were suspended in the area, while nearly 40,000 homes were left without electricity as the quake damaged power lines, officials said.

Switched-off nuclear reactors in the region were not affected, operators said.

Japan sits at the junction of four tectonic plates and experiences a number of relatively violent quakes every year, but rigid building codes and their strict enforcement mean even strong tremors often do little damage.

A massive undersea quake however that hit in March 2011 sent a tsunami barrelling into Japan’s northeast coast, leaving more than 18,000 people dead or missing, and sending three reactors into meltdown at the Fukushima nuclear plant.

In April, two strong earthquakes hit southern Japan’s Kumamoto prefecture followed by more than 1,700 aftershocks, and left at least 50 dead and caused widespread damage. AFP</s>TOKYO — A powerful earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 6.6 shakes western Japan, but there is no danger of a tsunami being caused.

The Meteorological Agency said the earthquake occurred Friday at 2:10 p.m. in Japan's western prefecture of Tottori, about 430 miles west of Tokyo, at a depth of 6 miles underground.

The agency said there was no danger of a tsunami from the inland temblor.

There was no immediate report of injuries or damage from the quake.</s>TOKYO: A strong 6.2 magnitude earthquake hit western Japan Friday, severely shaking the region and reportedly causing several injuries, damaging power lines and collapsing a house.

The quake struck shortly after 2:00 pm (0500 GMT) in Tottori prefecture at a shallow depth of 10 kilometers. There was no tsunami risk.

An aftershock at a magnitude of 5.0 struck after the initial quake, Japan’s meteorological agency said.

The US Geological Survey initially pegged the quake’s magnitude at 6.6 before downgrading it.

Public broadcaster NHK quoted local officials as saying they had received reports that a house collapsed in the town of Yurihama, while fires broke out in another part of the prefecture, without giving details.

In Kurayoshi City, the fire department reported receiving seven emergency calls for injuries.

“It was a shallow quake. In the past, there were a series of powerful quakes in (this region),” said Takuya Nishimura, associate professor at Kyoto University’s Research Center For Earthquake Prediction.

“It’s possible that an aftershock similar to or bigger than this scale will hit the region,” he told NHK.

“We felt fairly strong jolts, which I think were the biggest in years,” Suminori Sakinada, a local government official in Tottori, told AFP.

Bullet train services were suspended in the area, while nearly 40,000 homes were left without electricity as the quake damaged power lines, officials said.

Switched-off nuclear reactors in the region were not affected, operators said.

Japan sits at the junction of four tectonic plates and experiences a number of relatively violent quakes every year, but rigid building codes and their strict enforcement mean even strong tremors often do little damage.</s>A powerful earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 6.6 shook parts of western Honshu early Friday afternoon, but no tsunami warning was issued.

The Meteorological Agency said the earthquake occurred at 2:07 p.m. in central Tottori Prefecture, about 700 km (430 miles) west of Tokyo, at a depth of 10 km (6 miles) underground. It was followed by a weaker aftershock about 30 minutes later.

The agency said there was no danger of a tsunami from the inland temblor.

There were no immediate reports of injuries or damage from the quake.

According to NHK, because of the earthquake West Japan Railway Co. temporarily suspended all services on the Sanyo Shinkansen Line between Shin-Osaka and Hakata stations due to a power outage.

The quake registered lower 6 on the Japanese seismic scale of 7 in parts of Tottori Prefecture, and upper 5 in a wide area in Tottori and Okayama prefectures, according to the agency.

It caused a blackout which affected nearly 40,000 households in Tottori Prefecture, according to Chugoku Electric Power Co.

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

Okayama airport closed its runway to check its safety, airport officials said.

According to local officials a house in the town of Yurihama, in central Tottori Prefecture, was destroyed, and a number of dwellings in other parts of the prefecture suffered damage.</s>TOKYO — A powerful earthquake in western Japan knocked loose roof tiles, toppled store shelves and caused power outages Friday afternoon, but apparently caused no widespread damage. At least seven people were injured, one seriously.

The Japan Meteorological Agency said the 6.6-magnitude quake occurred in Tottori, a prefecture on the Sea of Japan about 430 miles west of Tokyo. The epicenter was at a relatively shallow depth of7 miles. Shallow quakes potentially cause more damage, but Friday’s damage appeared to be mostly minor or localized.

At least two houses collapsed, and television footage showed roof tiles knocked loose, wall fragments from a sake brewery fallen to the ground, and wine bottles and food items scattered on a store floor. Japan’s public broadcaster NHK said a woman cooking in a restaurant was taken to a hospital after she was splashed with oil.

“It shook quite violently and file cabinets fell down, but luckily nobody was injured in this office,” Koji Nakahara, a town hall official in coastal Hokuei, told NHK by telephone.

The earthquake caused temporary blackouts at about 32,000 homes, according to Chubu Electric Power Co., a regional utility.

The meteorological agency said there was no danger of a tsunami from the inland temblor.</s>There were no immediate reports of injuries or major damage and no irregularities at nuclear plants, but media said roughly 40,000 households were without power.

The epicenter of the earthquake was in Tottori prefecture at a depth of 10 km (6 miles), the agency said. The quake occurred at 2:07 p.m. and was followed by a weaker aftershock about 30 minutes later.

Earthquakes are common in Japan, one of the world's most seismically active area. Japan accounts for about 20 percent of the world's earthquakes of magnitude 6 or greater.

On March 11, 2011, the northeast coast was struck by a magnitude 9 earthquake, the strongest quake in Japan on record, and a massive tsunami. Those events triggered the world's worst nuclear crisis since Chernobyl a quarter of a century earlier.</s>The quake, which was 6.3 kilometers in depth, hit near Kurayoshi city, the USGS said.

There were no immediate reports of damage and no tsunami warning has been issued.

Japan, which sits along the so-called Ring of Fire, is no stranger to earthquakes.

That quake triggered a massive tsunami that swallowed entire communities in eastern Japan. It killed about 22,000 people -- almost 20,000 from the initial quake and tsunami, and the rest from health conditions related to the disaster. Developing story - more to come
A magnitude 6.6 earthquake hits Tottori Prefecture in western Japan. Local media report that there are 14 injuries in Kurayoshi. Tottori is Japan's least populous prefecture.