Japan earthquake: Powerful new tremor in Kumamoto

 

A powerful earthquake has struck near the southern Japanese city of Kumamoto, a day after a tremor there killed at least nine people.

The magnitude-7.1 quake at a depth of 10km (6 miles) hit at 01:25 on Saturday (16:25 GMT on Friday). A second - smaller - quake hit later.
A tsunami warning was issued, but has now been lifted.
Japan is regularly hit by earthquakes but stringent building codes mean that they rarely cause significant damage.
Thursday's magnitude-6.2 quake caused shaking at some places as intense as the huge earthquake that hit the country in 2011, Japan's seismology office said.
That quake sparked a huge tsunami and nuclear meltdown at a power plant in Fukushima.

Most of those who died in Thursday's quake were in the town of Mashiki in the Kyushu region in south-western Japan where an apartment building collapsed and many houses were damaged.
More than 1,000 people were injured.
More than 40,000 people had initially fled their homes, with many of those closest to the epicentre spending the night outside.

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Analysis: Jonathan Amos, BBC science correspondent

Japan is one of the most seismically active areas on Earth, accounting for about 20% of global quakes of magnitude 6.0 or greater. Seismometers are recording some kind of event every five minutes, on average.
It is through bitter experience that Japan has learnt the strategies to mitigate damage, injury and death. Not only does it implement some the best building construction practices, but it has also established an early warning network.
This system relies on the lightning analysis of the developing quake, establishing its location and strength. Alerts are then broadcast that can give people more distant from the epicentre vital seconds' notice.
Just 10 seconds is more than sufficient to drop and get under a sturdy table, or open the doors of a fire station.