A magnitude 5.9 earthquake rocked northern Japan about noon Monday, injuring at least eight people, near the area where the country’s deadliest earthquake in years struck last month.
The quake appeared to be an aftershock to last month’s magnitude-6.8 temblor. It was centered close to the earth’s surface in the Chuetsu area of Niigata prefecture, according to the Meteorological Agency.
The operators of the high-speed “bullet” train line between Tokyo and Niigata suspended service to conduct safety checks. One train derailed during last month’s quake.
Television footage from Niigata showed swaying power lines. Three weaker temblors of magnitudes 5.0, 4.5 and 4.2 struck in succession in the 30 minutes following the initial aftershock, the agency said.
The quake posed no danger of a seismic tidal wave, it said.
The Oct. 23 jolt that struck Niigata and aftershocks in the days that followed killed 39 people and injured more than 2,000. It was the deadliest quake to hit Japan since 1995, killing 6,433 people in Kobe.
