Two people were feared dead, including a 9-year-old girl, and at least eight others were injured as a result of a strong earthquake striking Osaka prefecture on Monday morning, local rescue officials said.
While no tsunami warning or advisory was given, the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) said the magnitude 6.1 quake was upwardly revised from a preliminary 5.9 temblor, which struck Osaka at 7:58 a.m. local time.
According to Kansai Electric, more than 170,000 homes in Osaka and neighboring Hyogo prefectures suffered power outages as a result of the quake and both Shinkansen bullet train and local train services in the region have been suspended, officials said.
Along with commuter services being seriously disrupted, the 3 airports in the region, officials said, were forced to temporarily suspend their services.
According to local media reports, there have been outbreaks of fires as a result of the quake and a number of people are believed to be trapped inside elevators, local rescue officials said.
Japanese Self-Defense Force (SDF) fighter jets and helicopters have been deployed to the area to investigate the scene, government officials said.
The epicenter of the quake was located at a latitude of 34.8 degrees north and a longitude of 135.6 degrees east and at a depth of 10 km, according to the weather agency.
The quake logged lower 6 in some parts of Osaka prefecture and upper 5 in neighboring Kyoto prefecture on the Japanese seismic intensity scale which peaks at 7, according to the JMA.
The jolt was also felt in the nearby prefectures of Hyogo, Kyoto, Shiga and Nara.
Kansai Electric Power Co. said that no abnormalities were reported at the Takahama, Mihama and Oi nuclear plants in central Japan and in neighboring Fukui Prefecture, officials said that all 15 nuclear reactors are still functioning as normal.
Japan's public broadcaster NHK said that senior government officials are currently gathering for an emergency meeting at Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's office to assess the situation.
Japan's top government spokesperson, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, told a press briefing on the matter that so far there have been no reports of serious infrastructural damage as a result of the quake.
The high-intensity tremors of the quake were owing to its shallow epicenter, seismologists said.
