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A 7.1-magnitude earthquake struck Japan’s southern island of Kyushu on Tuesday, prompting tsunami warnings for several prefectures, although there were no immediate reports of casualties or major damage.
The quake occurred at 4:27 pm local time (1:27 pm Bangladesh time) in Kumamoto Prefecture, according to the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA).
The JMA said the earthquake originated at a depth of 10 kilometers beneath the seabed. Because of its shallow depth, the tremor was strongly felt across the region.
The agency issued a tsunami warning, saying waves of up to 3.28 feet (about 1 meter) could reach coastal areas.
Following the quake, the Japanese government issued earthquake and tsunami alerts for Kumamoto, Nagasaki, Kagoshima, Fukuoka, Saga, Oita and Miyazaki prefectures.
Authorities said there were no immediate reports of deaths, injuries or significant property damage, while emergency officials continued to monitor the situation.
The latest quake comes just over a month after a 7.2-magnitude earthquake struck Japan on June 25, which also caused no major casualties or widespread destruction.
Japan is one of the world’s most earthquake-prone countries because it lies along the Pacific Ring of Fire, a seismically active zone where several tectonic plates meet. The country experiences about 18 percent of the world’s earthquakes each year despite accounting for only a small share of the global landmass.
