Earthquake hits Ehime and Kochi prefectures in southern Japan

An earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 6.4 struck southern Japan late Wednesday, the Japan Meteorological Agency said, but no tsunami warning was issued.

The agency said the epicenter was the Bungo Strait, a strait that separates the Japanese islands of Kyushu and Shikoku.

The Japan Meteorological Agency said Ehime and Kochi prefectures were hit by Japan’s magnitude 1-7 earthquake, with a magnitude of 6.

Local media said some water pipes burst, but no major damage was reported.

Japanese government spokesman Yoshimasa Hayashi told reporters that a reactor at Shikoku Electric Power’s Ikata nuclear power plant in Ehime Prefecture is operating and that no abnormalities have been reported at the plant.

Hayashi also warned that other earthquakes of magnitude below 6 could occur in Japan.

Japan is one of the most seismically active regions in the world, and earthquakes are common. Japan accounts for about one-fifth of the world’s earthquakes above magnitude 6.

On March 11, 2011, the strongest magnitude 9 earthquake in Japan’s recorded history occurred on the northeastern coast of Japan and triggered a tsunami. The events sparked the world’s worst nuclear crisis since Chernobyl a quarter-century ago.