The 13 voluntary evacuees on the ferry run by the village of Toshima in Kagoshima Prefecture are scheduled to arrive shortly past 6:00 pm at Kagoshima Port in the prefecture's capital in the mainland.

According to the Japan Meteorological Agency, the 5.5-magnitude earthquake, the largest so far of the latest earthquake swarm hitting the island group, registered lower six, the third highest on the Japanese seismic intensity scale, on Akusekijima around 4:13 pm Thursday.

The Toshima village office said there were 76 people, mostly residents, on the island at the time of the quake and that none of them was injured.

The first batch of evacuees, comprising six elementary and junior high school students and seven others aged 0 to 80, are set to stay at a hotel in the city of Kagoshima and other places.

Toshima Mayor Genichiro Kubo, who announced Thursday night a plan to evacuate residents on a voluntary basis, told a press conference Friday morning that the village would later in the day start accepting applications for the second round of evacuation by ship, slated for Sunday morning.

Since the series of earthquakes began on June 21, there have been more than 1,000 shakes measuring at least one on the seismic scale, including three five-lower quakes and Thursday's most powerful temblor.

A strong jolt with a seismic intensity of four was also observed Friday morning.