Two powerful earthquakes hit southern Japan

Two earthquakes of magnitude 6.9 And 7.1 were recorded in southwestern Japan on Thursday, triggering a tsunami warning for the eastern and southern coasts of Kyushu island and the southern coast of Shikoku, the National Meteorological Agency said.

NHK, Japan’s public broadcaster, said the warnings, for an expected height of one meter, affected the prefectures of Miyazaki, Kochi and other neighboring prefectures.

The first earthquake occurred less than 30 km off the coast of Miyazaki, according to the United States Geological Survey (USGS). A stronger quake, measuring 7.1, followed less than a minute later.

The police chief of the city of Nichinan in Kyushu, cited by NHK, said no buildings appeared to have collapsed in the area.

Meanwhile, the Kyushua Electric Power Company said its nuclear power plants were operating normally.

Already a deadly earthquake in January

Public broadcaster NHK showed footage of traffic lights shaking violently in Miyazaki Prefecture, where the quake struck. “The sea surface is rough. I felt an intense jolt when the earthquake happened, which lasted between 30 seconds and a minute,” a local official told the channel.

Waves of up to one meter are expected or have already reached some areas of the islands of Kyushu and Shikoku, two of the four main islands of the archipelago, according to the Japan Meteorological Service.

The agency also detailed that a small tsunami was possible in Chiba (east of Tokyo), about 850 kilometers from the epicenter. “Tsunamis will strike repeatedly. Please do not enter the sea or approach the coast until the warning is lifted,” she said.

The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center issued a warning that dangerous tsunami waves were possible within a 300-kilometer radius of the epicenter.

On January 1, at least 318 people died in a powerful earthquake in the center of the country. The tremor and the aftershocks that followed collapsed buildings and sparked fires.