TOKYO
At least 21 people have been injured after a magnitude-6.8 earthquake hit mountainous central Japan late Saturday, according to local media.
The earthquake rocked Nagano Prefecture at 22.08 at a depth of ten kilometers, before an aftershock struck northern Nagano at 22.37, the Meteorological Agency reported. No tsunami alert has been issued.
Kyodo news agency said a public hospital in Omachi city was treating at least 15 people for injuries – three of whom had suffered serious wounds.
It cited the national police as saying another six people were confirmed injured in Nagano City and Hakuba village.
At least 200 households experienced blackouts in affected areas, according to Japanese broadcaster NHK, which reported efforts were ongoing in Hakuba – where a landslide had blocked roads - to confirm whether four people were stuck in collapsed houses.
Yoshihide Suga, Japan’s chief cabinet secretary, told reporters, “We are doing all we can… I want to ask affected people to help each other and act calmly.”
He added the government had dispatched a ground self-defense forces team to Nagano’s hardest-hit regions.
A nuclear power plant in Niigata Prefecture to the north showed no immediate abnormalities, the Tokyo Electric Power Co. announced, according to the Japan Times.
An official from the country’s meteorological agency said called for caution at a press conference amid the potential risk of landslides, warning aftershocks could continue into the week.
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