A magnitude 5.5 earthquake occurred in the sea near Kagoshima Prefecture, Japan

According to the Japan Meteorological Agency, a magnitude 5.5 earthquake struck the waters near the Togara Islands in Kagoshima Prefecture, Japan, at 4:13 p.m. Tokyo time (5:13 p.m. Singapore time) on Thursday (July 3).

According to reports from Xinhua News Agency and AFP, the Japan Meteorological Agency has issued a red strong earthquake alert, but it is expected that this earthquake will not trigger a tsunami. More than a thousand earthquakes have occurred in this area in the past two weeks.

In this earthquake, the tremors were felt in places such as Okishima Island and Koboshima Island in Kagoshima Prefecture, Japan. As of 4:31 p.m. Tokyo time, four smaller-scale aftershocks had occurred successively in this area.

Japanese authorities on Thursday urged 89 residents on Okishima Island to evacuate and take refuge on the playground of a school on the island. The Tugara Islands consist of 12 remote islands, with Evil Stone Island being one of them. Seven of these islands are inhabited, with a permanent population of approximately 700.

The sea area near the Tugara Islands has been experiencing frequent seismic activities recently. According to the Japan Meteorological Agency's observations, since June 21st, the agency has detected over 1,000 earthquakes of magnitude 1 or above in this area.

The Japan Meteorological Agency sets the intensity of earthquakes from weak to strong as 0 to 4, 5 weak, 5 strong, 6 weak, 6 strong and 7, totaling 10 levels.