Dushanbe, 15.04.2016. /NIAT “Khovar”/. At least nine people were killed and 860 injured by a magnitude-6.5 earthquake that knocked down houses and buckled roads in Kyushu on Thursday night. The temblor logged a 7, the highest level on the Japanese intensity scale, Japan Times reports.

According to a source, most victims were in the hardest-hit town of Mashiki, Kumamoto Prefecture, about 15 km (9 miles) east of the city of Kumamoto, said Kumamoto prefecture disaster management official Takayuki Matsushita.

As of Friday at 5 a.m., 44,400 people were evacuated from their homes and staying at 500 shelters in the prefecture.

The quake struck at 9:26 p.m. at a depth of 11 km (7 miles) near the city of Kumamoto, the Meteorological Agency said. There was no tsunami risk.