Arab News Japan

TOKYO: An earthquake with maximum seismic intensity of 4 hit the Tokyo region on Wednesday, shaking Tokyo and its neighboring prefectures of Chiba, Saitama and Ibaraki.

The Japan Meteorological Agency said the epicenter was off the coast of Ibaraki Prefecture near Tokai Village and the quake registered 4.3 on the Richter Scale. There was no danger of a tsunami. Tokai Village hosts one of Japan’s nuclear power plants, most of which have been offline since the Fukushima disaster in 2011.

At the other end of Japan, the Tokara Islands in Kagoshima Prefecture have caused concern with a swarm of earthquakes in recent days.

There have been 432 earthquakes off the coast of the Tokara Islands up to Wednesday evening according to The Japan Meteorological Agency.  It called for continued vigilance as the quakes continue, sometimes occurring every five minutes.

By 4pm on Wednesday, there had been six tremors of intensity 4, 21 tremors of intensity 3, 114 tremors of intensity 2 and 291 tremors of intensity 1. 

The largest of these was a magnitude 5.1 magnitude earthquake that occurred just after 5pm on June 22 with intensity 4 tremors observed on Akusekijima in Toshima Village. The most intense day was June 22 when 175 earthquakes occurred.

There has been significant seismic activity in the past near the Tokara Islands, with the number of earthquakes with a seismic intensity of 1 or higher reaching 346 in 15 days in September 2023 and 308 in 26 days in December 2021. This time it has already reached more than 400, exceeding the previous two cases. 

The Tokara Islands are said to have an unusual topography that causes regular earthquakes.