Strong Quakes Jolt Nagano Pref. in Central Japan

Tokyo, April 18 (Jiji Press)–Two powerful earthquakes struck northern areas of Nagano Prefecture in central Japan on Saturday, with the first temblor measuring up to upper 5, the fourth-highest level on the Japanese seismic intensity scale. According to the Japan Meteorological Agency, the first quake occurred at around 1:20 p.m., with upper 5 observed in the Nagano city of Omachi and lower 5, the fifth highest, in the prefecture’s namesake capital city. The second shock, in which the two cities logged lower 5, struck at around 2:54 p.m. The first temblor had an estimated magnitude of 5.0 and occurred at a depth of 8 kilometers, and the second quake, with an estimated magnitude of 5.1, occurred at a depth of about 10 km, the agency said. Ayataka Ebita, director of the agency’s Earthquake and Tsunami Observation Division, told a press conference that a 5.1-magnitude temblor measuring up to lower 5 occurred to the south of the latest quakes on April 18 last year, and that quakes frequently occurred in the area afterward. He urged caution against earthquakes measuring upper 5 or higher for about one week. The latest shocks and the earthquake exactly a year ago struck near the active Itoigawa-Shizuoka Tectonic Line fault zone. Ebita said it is unclear whether a section of the fault zone had moved or may do so in the future. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]