14 April 2016, 14:38 GMT
TOKYO (Sputnik) – One person is believed to have died following a 6.4-magnitude earthquake in the city of Kumamoto in southern Japan on Thursday, local media said.
Earlier in the day, the powerful earthquake shook Japan's Kyushu island. The quake damaged at least nine buildings in Kumamoto. No tsunami threat has been issued so far.
According to the Kyodo news agency, the rubble of a house destroyed by the earthquake may have killed a man. This information has not yet been confirmed by the authorities and is currently being verified, the agency added.
Some 38,000 homes have been left without gas in Kumamoto as the supply was cut off a precautionary measure to prevent fires after the earthquake, the media outlet reported.
According to earlier media reports, at least 50 people have been hospitalized in Japan as a result of the natural disaster.
