6.8 earthquake shakes Tokyo
Pastor Dale Morgan
6.8 earthquake shakes Tokyo*
* Story Highlights
* Quake centered 100 miles from Tokyo under ocean
* No injuries, damage reported in Japanese capital
* Quake struck early morning Thursday local time
TOKYO, Japan (AP) -- A strong earthquake struck off the coast of Japan
early Thursday, the national Meteorological Agency said, waking up
people 100 miles away in Tokyo.
Two people suffered minor injuries from falling furniture, public
television broadcaster NHK reported. An 18-year-old man was hit when his
stereo speakers fell onto his bed, and a 25-year-old man was hit by
objects rattled off shelves.
There were no other immediate reports of injuries or damage from the
magnitude 6.8 earthquake, NHK said. No tsunami warning was issued.
The earthquake occurred at 1:45 a.m. offshore at a depth of about 25
miles, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. The epicenter was about
100 miles northeast of Tokyo.
A second quake with a magnitude of 5.3 struck the same area about 30
minutes later, and more aftershocks could follow, Tamotsu Aketagawa, an
official who monitors earthquakes for the country's Meteorological
Agency, told The Associated Press.
"Since it was a very large-scale earthquake, we would expect to see some
modest aftershocks," he said.
Japan is one of the most earthquake-prone countries in the world because
it sits atop four tectonic plates. Tokyo has not been hit by a major
quake since 1923, when 140,000 people died in the Great Kanto Earthquake.