Hundreds hurt as quake rocks north Japan
The quake was the largest anywhere in the world this year, the US Geological Survey said. Still, no deaths were immediately reported a fact that experts attributed to sturdy Japanese buildings and the quake's location 26 miles below the ocean floor.
Two fishermen were missing and police suspected they may have been swept away by quake-triggered tidal waves.
The earthquake forced the evacuation of 41,000 people and left some 16,000 homes blacked out. Warnings of tsunami, or ocean waves, were briefly issued as far away as Hawaii and Alaska.
The quake, which struck at 4:50am, cracked roads, capsized fishing boats and caved in part of the roof of the airport in Obihiro, a city of 200,000.
The temblor, centred in the Pacific about 60 miles off Hokkaido's eastern shore, was followed by several strong aftershocks and small ocean waves.
The Japanese government warned residents to avoid coastal areas, but the highest waves recorded were only about four feet.
Hokkaido government official Hideki Domon said 323 people were confirmed injured as of 4pm, about 11 hours after the quake. Police said 22 were seriously hurt, mostly with broken bones.
Japan's public broadcaster, NHK, put the injury toll at nearly 400.
Kushiro, 560 miles northeast of Tokyo, was believed to be the hardest hit.
"The shaking went on and on," said Fumiko Okuse, who owns a liquor store with her husband in Kushiro.
"Everything was thrown out of the refrigerators and all over the floor."
Television footage showed an office where books were knocked off shelves, and desks and computers swayed back and forth as the quake hit.
"It shook hard and long and I was very frightened," said Eri Takizawa, a city official in Kushiro.
Black plumes of smoke and flames leapt from an oil tank in the city of Tomakomai. The fire was contained within three hours and no injuries were reported.
Police said one person was injured when a local train carrying about 39 passengers derailed.
Japan is one of the world's most earthquake-prone countries. It sits atop four tectonic plates, slabs that move across the earth's surface.
Hokkaido is the northernmost and most sparsely populated of Japan's major islands.
A quake and tsunami on the western side of Hokkaido killed 230 people in July 1993, most on the nearby isle of Okushiri.
