A quake hit western Japan today, leaving three people with minor injuries and damaging buildings and roads, local media reported. The shallow tremor was reported as magnitude 6.1 by the Japan Meteorological Agency, according to Kyodo news agency , although USGS gave its strength as 5.7. It rocked the west of the main island of Honshu, 96 kilometres north of Hiroshima.
Three people sustained minor injuries while some 100 households lost water supplies and 50 households saw electricity cut, Kyodo reported, adding there was also damage to some buildings and roads. However, no problems were reported at the nearby Shimane nuclear power station, the agency said.
Japan sits on the so-called Pacific “Ring of Fire” where a large proportion of the world’s earthquakes and volcanic eruptions are recorded. A devastating magnitude 9.0 quake -- which struck under the Pacific Ocean on March 11, 2011 -- and the resulting tsunami caused widespread damage and took the lives of thousands of people.