Japan earthquake shakes central prefectures, leaving dozens injured

A magnitude 5.7 earthquake struck central Japan early Sunday morning, leaving dozens of people injured, breaking windows, and causing significant travel disruptions across the region. No fatalities were reported, and authorities did not issue a tsunami warning.

The tremor occurred at 1:04 a.m. local time, centered in Shizuoka Prefecture, situated west of the capital, Tokyo, according to the Japan Meteorological Agency.

Emergency personnel and local media indicated that most of the casualties involved relatively minor injuries. In Aichi Prefecture, an emergency official reported that authorities had received reports of at least 16 people hurt. Nearby in Shizuoka Prefecture, emergency services treated at least three women, including an elderly woman in her nineties who suffered a shoulder injury after being thrown from her bed by the violent movement. Regional media outlets, including the Chunichi Shimbun newspaper and Tokai Television, stated that the combined total of injured individuals across the two prefectures reached at least 24.

The physical effects of the earthquake were visible throughout central communities. In Toyohashi, located in Aichi Prefecture, the shock blew out windows at a local car dealership. Elsewhere in the prefecture, a bookstore in Toyota reported that stock was violently thrown from shelves onto the floor.

Ground transportation suffered disruptions following the midnight tremor. Rail operators suspended or delayed multiple regional services, including segments of the high-speed Shinkansen bullet train network, as crews inspected tracks and infrastructure on Sunday morning.

The tremors extended far beyond the immediate epicenter, shaking areas as far west as Osaka. Media reports noted that a foreign resident in Osaka was hospitalized after falling from a second-story apartment window in panic when the building began to shake.

Later on Sunday morning, at 10:53 a.m., a separate magnitude 4.3 earthquake hit the Kumamoto area in southwestern Japan. The weather agency said there were no immediate accounts of severe damage or harm linked to the subsequent tremor. Kumamoto continues to rebuild after a devastating magnitude 7.1 earthquake earlier in the year that claimed 38 lives and destroyed residential areas.

Japan frequently experiences seismic activity due to its position along the Pacific Ring of Fire, where tectonic plates continually collide, causing hundreds of measurable tremors each year.