Large Earthquake hits northern Japan
Pastor Dale Morgan
*Large Earthquake hits northern Japan*
From correspondents in Tokyo
February 17, 2007 03:18pm
Article from: Reuters
AN EARTHQUAKE with a preliminary magnitude of 6.6 hit Japan's northern
island of Hokkaido today.
There were no reports of damage or casualties.
The Meteorological Agency said the earthquake, which struck
southeastern Hokkaido, about 900 km (560 miles) north of Tokyo, at 09:03
a.m. (0003 GMT). would not trigger a tsunami.
The area rocked by the tremor is sparsely populated and dotted with
farming and fishing towns facing the Pacific Ocean.
"There were shakes from side to side for about 20 to 30 seconds,"
Masafumi Shishihara, an official in Uraho, the area hit hardest by the
quake, said.
"But nothing fell off from the shelves and the tremor itself was not so
big."
Japan sits at the junction of at least three tectonic plates, immense
slabs of the earth's crust whose gradual movements are thought to cause
earthquakes, making it one of the world's most earthquake-prone regions.