A tsunami warning has been issued after a powerful magnitude 7.1 earthquake struck south-western Japan on Tuesday. Thousands of households in the region have been left without electricity.
The Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) said the earthquake struck the island of Kyushu at 4.27pm local time. Its intensity reached the maximum of 7 on Japan’s own shindo scale. The news agency AFP reported from Tokyo.
The agency said tsunami waves could be up to one metre high.
The state broadcaster NHK said waves of that height may already have struck.
Japan’s nuclear regulation authority said nothing abnormal had been detected immediately at any nuclear power station.
The local electricity supplier Kyushu Electric Power said about 45,000 households and premises in the Kumamoto region were without power.
The company added that the three nuclear reactors operating in the region at the time of the earthquake were running normally.
About half an hour after the earthquake, a local NHK correspondent wearing a helmet said in a live broadcast that the shaking was still going on. The newsroom was shaking so much that it was difficult even to stand.
“The shaking is going on even as I speak,” he said. “Like me, many people’s hearts are probably pounding.”
He added: “The shaking was so strong when the earthquake struck that I could not stand. So stay alert, because there may be more shaking after this.”
বাংলায় মূল প্রতিবেদন পড়ুন · Read the original Bengali report