400 hurt in earthquake

A powerful magnitude-7.0 earthquake jolted southern Japan today, killing an elderly woman, injuring at least 400 people, and prompting authorities to evacuate half the residents of a tiny island near the epicentre.

Authorities issued a tsunami warning that was later cancelled.

The quake, which hit west of Kyushu Island at 1053 (0153 GMT), was centred about five miles below the seabed, Japan’s Meteorological Agency said. Aftershocks followed – at least one a moderate magnitude-4.2 tremor – and the agency’s Masahiro Yamamoto warned of more aftershocks measuring up to magnitude-6.

A magnitude-7 quake can potentially devastate heavily populated areas. But today’s temblor didn’t directly hit the archipelago, and injuries and damage were minimised by Japan’s quake-safe buildings and disaster-prepared population.

The worst damage occurred nearest the quake’s epicentre, on Genkai island, where the shaking touched off landslides and levelled homes. About 120 Japanese troops flew to the island to offer food and medical aid, and help evacuate more than 400 of the 850 residents to neighbouring Kyushu.

Those evacuees joined some 1,500 others in temporary shelters in Fukuoka state.

In Fukuoka, 560 miles southwest of Tokyo, water and gas pipes burst.

The tremors set off landslides in parts of Fukuoka, Saga and Nagasaki prefectures, and triggered a safety mechanism that halted local and bullet train services in Fukuoka.

A 75-year-old woman died after a section of a stone wall fell on her, a Fukuoka prefectural government spokesman said on condition of anonymity.

At least 400 people injured by the quake, most in Fukuoka and Saga states, were treated at hospitals, public broadcaster NHK reported. Most of the injured were struck by toppling cabinets, items falling off shelves or shattered glass, or burned by a cooking stove, the network said.

Fukuoka counted 107 injuries, 15 of them serious. Ten people in neighbouring Saga were injured, a government official said on condition of anonymity.

The initial jolt lasted about 30 seconds.