Quake measuring 8.3 rocks Japan, tsunami likely

Tokyo, Jan 13: An earthquake of preliminary 8.3 magnitude rocked the northern Pacificroughly east of the Kurile islands, prompting Japan to issue a tsunamiwarning for the eastern coast of its northernmost island of Hokkaido.

A tsunami warning was issued today for the eastern part of Japan'snorthernmost island of Hokkaido and a lesser warning for a wide swatheof northeastern and eastern Honshu, Japan's main island, NHK publictelevision said.

The earliest possible arrival of the tsunami was estimated at 2 pm(1030 hrs IST) on the eastern coast of Hokkaido with an estimatedmaximum height of one metre.

The warning came after a moderate earthquake on the Japanese scaleof 3 rocked parts of eastern Hokkaido and northeastern Honshu.

There were no immediate reports of injuries from the earthquake.

UNI