Following aftershocks another quake hits Japan - Reports

An estimated 6.6-magnitude earthquake has struck Nagano and Niigata prefectures in Japan, Kyodo news service reported a short while ago (around 1.20 am Saturday, Sri Lankan time). This is in addition to the 8.9 magnitude quake that hit the country’s East Coast of Honshu on Friday morning.

According to the Sri Lanka Geological Survey and Mines Bureau, the Friday morning earthquake in Japan was recorded in Sri Lanka at the seismic stations in Pallakale, Mahakanadarawa in Anuradhapura and Hakmana 14 minutes after it occurred. However, the Bureau said that there was no threat to the island from the tsunami waves.

The official death toll stood at 151, with 539 injured and 351 missing, according to Kyodo, citing police, but that death toll seemed almost certain to rise, according to Japanese TV NHK, which cited police as saying the victims may have been struck by a massive tsunami. Kyodo said the death toll is likely to surpass 1,000.

Friday’s quake is the strongest in recorded history to hit Japan, according to U.S. Geologic Survey records. The previous record was an 8.6 magnitude earthquake that struck near the Chubu Region near southwestern Honshu on October 28, 1707, that may have killed 5,000 people, according to CNN meteorologist Sean Morris.