Strong Earthquake Rattles Northern Japan
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=514&e=4&u=/ap/20030925/ap_on_re_as/japan_earthquake
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
http://www.the-sandbox.org
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