Japan felt 1,513 earthquakes in 2001, the sixth-highest figure in the past 10 years, according to the Meteorological Agency.

Overall for 2001, the total number of quakes perceptible to human senses was an average amount, while marking a sharp decline from 2000, when 17,677 temblors detectable by people shook the nation, the agency said.

2000 saw a series of quakes stemming from the eruption of Mount Oyama on Miyake Island in the Izu island chain as well as a major quake in the western part of Tottori Prefecture.

An agency official said the number of quakes decreased mainly because seismic activity in the Izu island chain has abated.

Thirty-seven quakes registered 4 or above on the Japanese intensity scale to 7 in 2001, down sharply from 357 in 2000.

The magnitude 6.7 earthquake in Hiroshima and Ehime prefectures that killed two people in March registered a lower 6 on the Japanese scale.

An upper 5 was recorded for three temblors and a lower 5 for five others.

In a lower 6 quake, wall tiles and windows are damaged and fall off in some cases.

There were 12 quakes that registered magnitude 6 or above last year, down from 25 in 2000.

In addition to the Hiroshima-Ehime quake, nine caused casualties, including a magnitude 5.1 tremor that struck central Shizuoka Prefecture on April 3 -- injuring eight.