A 6.5-magnitude earthquake struck Japan’s western Ishikawa prefecture on Friday, authorities said, as media reported some buildings collapsed and people were injured.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno said at an emergency news conference that one person had suffered a cardiac arrest after the quake, but gave no further details.
No abnormalities were reported at the Shika nuclear power plant in the area or the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa power plant in neighboring Niigata prefecture, Matsuno added.
Japan’s meteorological authorities revised the earthquake’s magnitude to 6.5 from a preliminary 6.3 and warned of aftershocks, although it did not trigger any tsunami warnings.
“Especially in the next three days, a large-scale earthquake may occur,” a weather agency official said, adding that the big earthquake was followed by aftershocks.
He urged residents of the quake-hit areas to be on alert for about a week in case of further events of seismic intensity 6 or higher on Japan’s scale, which goes up to 7.
Matsuno said the government has set up an earthquake response center headed by Prime Minister Fumi Kishida. “Prime Minister Kishida has instructed us to do everything in our power to help and rescue,” he added.
“We will take all necessary measures depending on the damage and impact of the earthquake,” Matsuno said when asked if the earthquake would affect Kishida’s plans to visit South Korea starting Sunday.
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