Earthquakes shake Tokyo area, Indian Ocean

Updated: 2009-08-11 09:09

Local trains and two reactors at the Hamaoka nuclear power plant were temporarily halted for safety checks. No damage was reported, however. Reactors are automatically shut down whenever a quake of a certain strength is registered.

NHK said a 5-year-old boy suffered a leg injury when he was hit by a falling TV set and small landslides were reported in the town of Nishi Izu, but there were no injuries, said town official Mieko Hayama.

Japan has recently been hit by heavy typhoon rains, and officials warned residents in mountainous areas to be cautious because the ground may be loose and landslides may be generated by the quake or aftershocks.

NHK also reported that two older people were hit by falling objects, and another tripped and fell and was slightly injured.

Kinichi Tashiro, an emergency official at the Yaizu city fire station, said officials were currently touring the coastal areas in the city to monitor the situation, but he has not received any reports of damage.

"I was in the bathroom just as the quake hit. It shook rather violently," Tashiro said in a televised interview with NHK. Tashiro said there was no damage to his home and observed no major problem in the neighborhood as he rushed to the office.

A magnitude 6.9 quake rattled the region Sunday, but caused no damage or casualties. The U.S. Geological Survey measured it at magnitude 7.1.

Japan is one of the world's most earthquake-prone countries, and experts believe Tokyo has a 90 percent chance of being hit by a major quake over the next 50 years.

In 1995, a magnitude-7.2 quake in the western port city of Kobe killed 6,400 people.

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