TOKYO: A quake hit western Japan early on Monday (Apr 9), injuring five people and damaging buildings and roads, local media reported.

The shallow tremor was reported as 6.1-magnitude by the Japan Meteorological Agency, according to Kyodo news agency, although USGS gave its strength as 5.7.



It rocked the west of the main island of Honshu, 96km north of Hiroshima.

Five people were hurt in the quake, including a 17-year-old boy who broke his leg after falling from his bed, but no life-threatening injuries were reported.

About 100 households lost water supplies and 50 households saw their electricity cut, Kyodo reported, adding there was also damage to some buildings and roads.

However, no problems were reported at the nearby Shimane nuclear power station, the agency said.





"We want the areas that experienced strong tremors to be on guard in the coming week or so against quakes that could be as powerful as the upper five," agency official Toshiyuki Matsumori told a news conference, referring to a Japanese seismic scale with a maximum intensity of seven.

An upper five on Japan's Shindo scale refers to tremors that make it difficult to walk without holding onto something.

Strong aftershocks could continue for two to three days, Matsumori said, and several strong tremors have already been felt in the region hit by the initial quake.



Japan sits on the so-called Pacific "Ring of Fire" where a large proportion of the world's earthquakes and volcanic eruptions are recorded.

A devastating 9.0-magnitude quake - which struck under the Pacific Ocean on Mar 11, 2011 - and the resulting tsunami caused widespread damage and took the lives of thousands of people.

