Strong Earthquake Rattles Northern
Japan TOKYO - A strong quake
with a preliminary magnitude of 7.8 rocked the northern Japan island of
Hokkaido early Friday morning, knocking out power, derailing a train and
touching off an industrial fire. Two people were reported injured.
A powerful aftershock
followed an hour later. The government warned
local residents to avoid coastal areas due to the possibility of tsunami, or
ocean waves caused by seismic activity. Japan's Meteorological agency said
waves as high as 3 feet had hit the city of Kushiro. The quake, which hit
just before dawn, was focused off Hokkaido's eastern shore. The quake was strong
enough to rock buildings on the island and shake books and other objects off
shelves. Japan's public broadcaster NHK reported that at least several people
had been injured and a fire had broken out in the city of Tomakomai. Black plumes of smoke
and flames could be seen leaping from the site in an industrial area. Streams
of water were aimed at the flames. Television footage
showed an office in which books were knocked off shelves, and desks and
computers swayed back and forth. Tsunami were observed in
some coastal cities, NHK reported. "We are now trying
to collect information on the extent of the damage," city official
Sadayuki Kano said. "There are no reports of other major damage." NHK also reported that a
local train derailed, injuring two people. The meteorological
agency said the earthquake (news
- web
sites) had a magnitude of 7.8 and was focused 36 miles under the seabed. The U.S. Geological
Survey (news
- web
sites) in Golden, Colo., said the temblor had a preliminary magnitude of 8.
An earthquake of that magnitude is capable of causing tremendous damage. In September 1923, a
magnitude 8.3 quake hit Tokyo and Yokohama, killing at least 140,000 people. In January 1995, a magnitude
7.2 temblor in Kobe killed more than 6,000 people. The quake struck in the
Pacific Ocean, about 65 miles south-southwest of Kushiro and 495 miles
north-northeast of Tokyo, said John Minsch, a USGS (news
- web
sites) geophysicist. The quake was shallow. "That makes it more
likely to be a tsunami, and there's most likely to be a great amount of
damage," Minsch said. Hokkaido is the
northernmost and most sparsely populated of Japan's major islands. Sapporo is
the prefecture's capital. Japan is one of the
world's most earthquake-prone countries. It sits atop four tectonic plates,
slabs that move across the earth's surface. Geophysicist Doug Given
in Pasadena, Calif., said the region is "part of the Pacific Ring of Fire,
the zone of very large earthquakes (news
- web
sites) and volcanoes that rings the Pacific Rim." The Pacific Tsunami
Warning Center in Hawaii said the earthquake generated a tsunami. A warning was
in effect for Japan, Russia, Guam, the Northern Mariana islands and Wake
Island. A watch was in effect
for Hawaii, Taiwan and the Philippines, the center said. Charles Mims |
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