Quake jolts central Japan, tsunami warning issued
Tokyo,
Mar
25:
A
strong
earthquake
with
a
preliminary
magnitude
of
7.1
jolted
the
Sea
of
Japan
coast
area
of
central
Japan
today,
the
Japan
Meteorological
Agency
said.
The
quake,
at
9:42
am
(0612
IST),
was
also
felt
in
Tokyo.
A
tsunami
warning
for
waves
of
up
to
50
cm
was
issued
for
Ishikawa
prefecture
and
public
broadcaster
NHK
said
small
tsunami
had
already
hit
in
some
areas.
The
quake
registered
a
higher
6
on
the
Japanese
seismic
intensity
scale
of
7
in
the
Noto
peninsula
in
Ishikawa,
about
300
km
from
Tokyo.
In
Nanao,
a
city
with
a
population
of
around
60,000
on
the
peninsula,
ambulance
services
were
flooded
with
calls
to
help
people
who
had
suffered
burns
and
injuries,
Kyodo
news
agency
said.
A
local
official
told
NHK
he
saw
cracks
and
bumps
in
roads.
''Books
fell
off
bookshelves
and
it
was
the
worst
shaking
I
have
ever
felt,''
one
local
official
told
NHK.
The
focus
of
the
tremor
was
at
a
depth
of
50
km
below
the
seabed
off
the
Noto
peninsula,
the
agency
said.
Train
services
and
flights
in
the
area
were
halted,
media
reports
said.
There
were
no
reports
of
irregularities
at
nuclear
plants
in
the
area.
Earthquakes
are
common
in
Japan,
one
of
the
world's
most
seismically
active
areas.
The
country
accounts
for
about
20
percent
of
the
world's
earthquakes
of
magnitude
6
or
greater.
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.
That
was
the
deadliest
quake
since
a
magnitude
7.3
tremor
hit
the
city
of
Kobe
in
1995,
killing
more
than
6,400.
Reuters