Magnitude 6.5 earthquake strikes Japan

TOKYO (Reuters): An earthquake of magnitude 6.5 struck Japan’s Bonin Islands, the United States Geological Survey (USGS) said on Saturday.

The quake was at a depth of 503.2 km (312.7 miles), USGS said.

The U.S. National Tsunami Warning Center said there was no tsunami warning from the quake, based on available data.

Japan, one of the world’s most tectonically active countries, has strict building standards designed to ensure structures can withstand even the most powerful earthquakes.

The archipelago, home to around 125 million people, experiences around 1,500 jolts every year, the vast majority of which are mild.

Earlier,a 7.2 magnitude earthquake rocked Taiwan on Wednesday, the strongest tremor to hit the island in at least 25 years, killing one person, injuring dozens and sparking a tsunami warning for southern Japan and the Philippines that was later lifted.

Taiwan’s fire department said one person is suspected to have been crushed to death by falling rocks in the mountainous, sparsely populated eastern county of Hualien where the epicentre was, with more than 50 injured.

At least 26 buildings have collapsed, more than half in Hualien, with about 20 people trapped and rescue work on-going, it said.

Taiwan television stations showed footage of buildings at precarious angles in Hualien, where the quake struck just offshore around 8am (0000GMT) as people were going to work and school.

The quake had a depth of 15.5km (9.6 miles), according to Taiwan’s Central Weather Administration.