Japan city struck by powerful new earthquakes

Two powerful earthquakes have struck near the southern Japanese city of Kumamoto, a day after a tremor there killed at least nine people.

The quakes — a magnitude 7.1 (4.4 miles) at a depth of 7km and a 7.4 at a depth of 40km (25 miles) — came in quick succession, officials said.

A tsunami warning has been issued.

Japan is regularly struck by earthquakes but stringent building codes mean that they rarely cause significant damage.

Thursday's magnitude-6.2 quake caused shaking at some places as intense as the huge earthquake that hit the country in 2011, Japan's seismology office said.

That quake sparked a huge tsunami and nuclear meltdown in Fukushima.