Powerful earthquake shakes most of Japan
— A powerful earthquake struck near remote Japanese islands and shook most of the country Saturday evening, but it occurred well beneath the earth’s surface and did not trigger a tsunami warning.
Several people suffered non-life-threatening injuries, and there were no reports of deaths or major damage.
The magnitude-8.5 offshore quake struck off the Ogasawara islands at a depth of about 370 miles, the Japan Meteorological Agency said. The U.S. Geological Survey said the quake had a magnitude of 7.8 and a depth of 421 miles.
The temblor was powerful enough to rattle most of Japan, from the southern islands of Okinawa to Hokkaido in the north. It caused buildings to sway in Tokyo, about 620 miles north of the Ogasawara islands, and temporarily disrupted some train services in the city. About 400 houses in Saitama prefecture, just north of the capital, were without power,
Tokyo according to the Tokyo Electric Power Co.
At Tokyo’s Roppongi Hills shopping and business complex, elevators stopped soon after the quake, forcing hundreds of visitors to climb down the stairs. Among them were about 200 people who came to see the Star Wars exhibit on the 52nd floor.
On Sunday morning, a strong magnitude-6.4 earthquake struck off Japan’s Izu islands, which are north of the Ogasawara islands, said the U.S. Geological Survey in Golden, Colo. It struck at a depth of eight miles with its epicenter about 390 miles southsoutheast of Tokyo. John Bellini, a geophysicist with the Geological Survey, said it is considered a separate seismic event and not an aftershock to the magnitudequake.