A man in his 50s has died at his home in the northeastern Japan city of Fukushima, the first confirmed fatality in a strong earthquake that hit the region earlier this month, the local government said Thursday.
According to the city, the man was found buried under furniture on Tuesday by a family member who visited the man's home after being unable to reach him.
The city determined that he was killed in the recent temblor, as he is estimated to have died around 11:07 p.m. on Feb. 13 when the magnitude 7.3-quake occurred.
The quake registered lower 6 on Japan's seismic intensity scale of 7 in the city. It measured upper 6 in other parts of Fukushima and Miyagi prefectures, which were struck along with Iwate Prefecture by a devastating quake and tsunami in March 2011 that killed more than 15,000 people.
The recent earthquake, which is believed to be an aftershock of the 2011 megaquake, left 185 people injured in 10 prefectures in northeastern and eastern Japan and damaged 3,112 houses in Fukushima, Miyagi and Yamagata prefectures, according to the Fire and Disaster Management Agency.
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