11.   The government, severely criticized for its slow response during the two earlier quakes, was better organized this time.

12.   The earlier quake was widely felt along the Southern California coast, from Santa Barbara to Long Beach, and across the entire Los Angeles basin.

13.   The earlier quakes hit hardest along the Pacific coast.

14.   The earthquake, centered about six miles under the seabed near the islands of Niijima and Kozushima, was unrelated to the earlier quake, the agency said.

15.   The earlier quake shook Tokyo and nearby prefectures, including Chiba, Tochigi, Kanagawa and Saitama, the agency said.

16.   The earlier quakes brought down a section of vaulted ceiling, killing four people, and destroying frescoes by Cimabue and from the Giotto school.

17.   There were no reports of casualties from the earlier quakes.

18.   It was not linked to the earlier quake in Kagoshima, an agency spokesman said.

19.   A field hospital was set up in the centre of Nahrin after the earlier quake.

20.   It was not linked to the earlier quake in Kagoshima, and there was no danger of tsunami waves, an agency spokesman said.