Powerful 6.0-magnitude earthquake rocks Japan again, no tsunami warning yet
A major earthquake of magnitude 6.0 struck central Japan on Tuesday (local time) causing strong tremors. The Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) said that the quake hit off the Sea of Japan coast, jolting parts of the central region of the country, which was hit by a series of devastating earthquakes on January 1 as well. However, no tsunami warning has been issued yet.
Rescuers struggling to clear debris from January 1 quake
The latest earthquake came as the rescuers were still struggling to clear the debris from the January 1 devastation and reach nearly 3,500 people still stuck in isolated areas. The latest official data from the worst-hit Ishikawa prefecture revealed that at least 202 people were confirmed dead as of Tuesday. Moreover, 102 people in the region are still unaccounted for after January 1's earthquake.
Over 1,200 aftershocks felt since January 1
Over 150 earthquakes, the strongest being magnitude 7.6, hit Japan on January 1-2, which also triggered its first major tsunami warning since the 2011 earthquake and tsunami. Over 1,200 aftershocks have been felt in the region since. Notably, Japan is among the most earthquake-prone countries as it lies on the western edge of the Ring of Fire, a tectonic belt of volcanoes and earthquakes.
Japan's worst quake so far
In the country's worst earthquake, on March 11, 2011, a 9.0-magnitude quake triggered a tsunami in northern Japan, leaving around 18,500 people dead. It wiped out 123,000 houses and damaged a million more.
