Five people have been injured after a magnitude 6.1 earthquake struck western Japan, followed by more than 20 aftershocks, the Meteorological Agency says.
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No tsunami warning was issued after the quake early on Monday morning.
It hit in the western part of Shimane prefecture, about 750km west of Tokyo, at a depth of 12km, the agency said.
Five people were injured and about 1100 households lost access to tap water in the hardest-hit city of Oda, while dozens of homes were without electricity, local officials said.
The quake caused damage to some homes in the city, forcing more than 100 residents to evacuate at one point, while an entrance gate at a local Shinto shrine was destroyed, Kyodo News agency reported.
"When the quake hit, I couldn't stand on my own and had to hold on to a column. I still cannot return home because I am scared of possible aftershocks," Isamu Yamashita, an 81-year-old man who evacuated to an elementary school in the city, told Kyodo.
"In the next week or so, there is a possibility of another strong quake in areas hit hard by the tremor," Toshiyuki Matsumori, an agency official in charge of monitoring tsunami and earthquakes, told a news conference in Tokyo.
The quake's magnitude was revised upward from an earlier estimate of 5.8, the agency said.
Australian Associated Press