Four people were killed and at least 350 injured after a strong earthquake hit Osaka yesterday morning, rattling one of Japan's industrial heartlands and halting trains and factories across the region.
The earthquake struck at 7.58am local time at a depth of 13km. It caused heavy shaking that registered a lower six on the Japanese scale of seven. It was the strongest shaking registered in Osaka in records which date back to 1923.
As the quake was centred inland, there was no fear of a tsunami.
The earthquake caused the suspension of public transportation services all over the Kinki region. Power was cut off to more than 170,000 homes, but was quickly restored. While the region appeared to be spared of major infrastructural damage, the Meteorological Agency warned that strong aftershocks could occur, particularly in the next two to three days.
