13 Residents Evacuate Strong Quake-Hit Akusekijima Island

   Kagoshima, July 4 (Jiji Press)--A dozen of residents left Akusekijima aboard a ship Friday morning after a powerful earthquake rocked the Tokara chain island in southwestern Japan the previous day.
   The 13 voluntary evacuees on the ferry run by the village of Toshima in Kagoshima Prefecture are scheduled to arrive shortly past 6 p.m. at Kagoshima Port in the prefecture's capital in the mainland.
   According to the Japan Meteorological Agency, the 5.5-magnitude earthquake, the largest so far of the latest earthquake swarm hitting the island group, registered lower 6, the third highest on the Japanese seismic intensity scale, on Akusekijima around 4:13 p.m. Thursday.
   The Toshima village office said there were 76 people, mostly residents, on the island at the time of the quake and that none of them was injured.
   The first batch of evacuees, comprising six elementary and junior high school students and seven others aged 0 to 80, are set to stay at a hotel in the city of Kagoshima and other places.

(2025/07/04-13:20)