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Toshima, Kagoshima - Following a series of earthquakes off the Tokara Islands in Kagoshima Prefecture, a ferry carrying five evacuees left Akusekijima Island, part of that island chain, yesterday.

The five evacuees, island residents aged from their 20s to their 70s, were the third group of people to leave because of the quakes.

They headed to Kagoshima City, where they were to stay in accommodations prepared by the village of Toshima in the prefecture.

According to the village, 44 residents from Akusekijima Island and 15 from Kodakarajima Island evacuated from the islands by ferry last Friday and Sunday.

Two residents, one from each island, left by themselves, leaving the number of people remaining on Akusekijima at 20 and on Kodakarajima at 44.

Between June 21 and 11am local time yesterday, the area experienced 1720 earthquakes that measured at least one out of seven on the Japanese seismic scale.

“We called for people to evacuate for one week, but we will have to discuss again how long the evacuation period should be,” Toshima Mayor Genichiro Kubo said at a press conference.

Akusekijima Compulsory Education School, whose 14 students are all among the evacuees, started remote lessons using tablet computers on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, the village will go ahead with its plan to conduct voting for the House of Councillors election on July 17, three days earlier than the official election date.

The village office in Kagoshima City will accept early voting ballots through July 16.