WAJIMA (Japan), March 25: A powerful 6.9-magnitude earthquake rocked Japan on Sunday, killing one person and injuring at least 162 others, officials said.

Residents took cover in emergency shelters after hundreds of buildings were damaged and as aftershocks rattled the Noto peninsula on the west coast of Japan’s main island of Honshu.

Japan’s meteorological agency initially estimated the magnitude of the first quake, which struck at about 9:42am (0042 GMT) off Ishikawa prefecture, at 7.1 but later revised the figure.

The agency issued a tsunami warning for the Noto peninsula just one minute after the quake, using a new system based on data from a preliminary tremor that comes before the main earthquake.

The tremor triggered landslides and a thermal power plant halted operations automatically, but nuclear power plants in the area reported no problems.

One woman, 52-year-old Kiyomi Miyakoshi, died after being hit by a stone lantern in a garden.

More than 200 buildings were damaged.—AFP