Earthquake in northeast Japan
Earthquake in northeast Japan
An earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 5.5 jolted off Japan’s northernmost Hokkaido Prefecture at 11:39 a.m. today.
The focus of the quake was located some 10 km under the sea off Hokkaido’s east coast. There were no immediate reports of casualties or damage to properties, and no tsunami warning was issued.
Kyodo news agency said there was no injuries reported in either Fukushima prefecture or Miyagi prefecture to the north.
Nippon Oil’s Sendai refinery in Miyagi was continuing normal operations after the quake and there were no reports of damage, a refinery official said.
In October 2004, an earthquake with a magnitude of 6.8 struck the Niigata region in northern Japan, killing 65 people and injuring more than 3,000.
