China TOKYO - An earthquake that rattled central Japan at the weekend injured 12 people said:
The 5.4-magnitude quake struck Sunday some 16 kilometres (10 miles) below ground in Mie prefecture, 300 kilometres west of Tokyo, the Meteorological Agency said.
Six hours later, another quake with a magnitude of 4.5 hit the region, the agency said.
Local authorities said a total of 12 people were hurt, but not seriously, after the first tremor, including a 60-year-old man hit by part of a falling ceiling.
The quake also temporarily suspended operations at electronics maker Sharp Corp.'s Kameyama plant, one of the biggest production bases of liquid crystal displays.
The region also holds key factories of Japanese auto and electronics makers such as Honda Motor Co. Ltd., Toyota Motor Corp. and Toshiba Corp., but there was no damage to their facilities, company officials said.
A meteorological agency official warned of future strong aftershocks.
Late last month, a powerful earthquake with a magnitude of 6.9 hit the Noto peninsula in central Japan, killing one person and injuring more than 200.
Japan lies at the junction of four tectonic plates and experiences some 20 percent of the world's most powerful earthquakes.
In 1995, a 7.3-magnitude earthquake in the western city of Kobe killed more than 6,400 people.
