Strong quake jolts northeastern Japan, no major damage reported

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TOKYO, March 14 Kyodo -
A powerful earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 6.7 struck northeastern
Japan on Sunday afternoon but there were no reports of injuries or major
damage.
The government set up a liaison office to gather information about the quake
two minutes after the temblor occurred, while a bullet train service was
temporarily suspended in the quake-hit region.
Tokyo Electric Power Co. and Tohoku Electric Power Co. said operations were
normal at their nuclear power plants in Fukushima and Miyagi prefectures.
The focus of the 5:08 p.m. quake, upgraded from a preliminary magnitude of 6.6,
was located off the coast of Fukushima Prefecture at a depth of about 40
kilometers, the Japan Meteorological Agency said. The quake occurred a day
after another temblor with an estimated magnitude of 5.7 shook the same region.
Sunday's quake registered lower 5 on the Japanese seismic intensity scale of 7
in part of Fukushima Prefecture and 4 in other parts of Fukushima, Iwate,
Miyagi and Tochigi prefectures.
The temblor also measured 3 on the same scale in extensive areas of eastern
Japan, including Tokyo.
No tsunami damage as a result of the quake is expected though slight changes in
sea level may occur, the agency said.
According to the Fukushima prefectural government, broken windowpanes at a
prefectural cultural center and a fallen ceiling panel at the prefectural
government office were found in the wake of the quake.
Japan is one of the world's most seismically active countries. In 1995, a
magnitude 7.3 quake hit the western port city of Kobe and surrounding areas,
claiming 6,434 lives.
==Kyodo
2010-03-14 21:30:19