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Earthquake shocks southern Japan's Ehime, Kochi prefectures

An earthquake with a. initial magnitude of 6.4 hit southern Japan late on. Wednesday, said the Japan Meteorological Agency, without releasing. a tsunami warning.

The epicentre was the Bungo Channel, a strait separating the. Japanese islands of Kyushu and Shikoku, the agency said.

Ehime and Kochi prefectures were struck by the quake with an. strength of 6 on Japan's 1-7 scale, the JMA said.

Some water pipes burst, however no major damage has been. reported, regional media said.

Shikoku Electric Power's Ikata nuclear plant in. Ehime prefecture, where one reactor functions, reported no. irregularities, Japan's federal government spokesperson Yoshimasa. Hayashi informed reporters.

Hayashi likewise cautioned of a possibility of other earthquakes. with lower 6 on the Japanese seismic scale.

Earthquakes are common in Japan, among the world's most. seismically active areas. Japan represent about one-fifth of. the world's earthquakes of magnitude 6 or greater.

On March 11, 2011, the northeast coast was struck by a. magnitude 9 earthquake, the greatest in Japan on record, and a. massive tsunami. Those events activated the world's worst. nuclear crisis considering that Chernobyl a quarter of a century earlier.

(source: Reuters)