54 hurt as earthquake rocks Japan

A powerful earthquake rocked north-eastern Japan today, starting fires and landslides and making buildings sway hundreds of miles away in the capital Tokyo.

Police said 54 people were hurt, but only six injuries were classed as serious and the damage done by the tremor was minor.

The 7.0 magnitude quake was the strongest to hit Japan in more than two years, the nation’s Meteorological Agency said – but its impact might have been lessened by its depth.

It was centred about 44 miles under the sea floor, 12 miles off the coast of north-east Miyagi state, the agency said.

A magnitude 7.0 quake can cause major damage over a widespread area. More than 6,000 people were killed in the western city of Kobe when a magnitude-7.2 quake struck there in 1995.

Today’s quake was felt across Japan’s main island of Honshu.

It cracked foundations and emptied store shelves in cities near the epicentre and caused skyscrapers to sway in Tokyo, 260 miles away.

Thousands of travellers were stranded as rail and road traffic were halted while officials checked for damage.

Fifty-four people were hurt and 31 houses were damaged, all in the northern states of Iwate, Miyagi, Akita and Aomori, said Tomoki Sano, a spokesman for the National Policy Agency in Tokyo.

Sano said most of the injuries were minor and caused by falling household objects and broken glass.

Among the serious injuries was a man who broke a vertebra after falling off roof of his house while trying to fix an antenna.

Media reports quoting local officials estimated the number of injured at 78.

Three fires broke out, one at a power substation and two at houses, and 19 landslides were reported in the region, the police official said. About 35,000 homes lost power after the quake for about 45 minutes.

Meteorological Agency official Noritake Nishide described the epicentre as “relatively deep” and said there was no danger of tsunami, powerful waves that can be stirred up by seismic activity.

Japan is one of the world’s most earthquake-prone countries and has accordingly adopted tough building standards. It is pulled by four tectonic plates, the huge slabs of land that cover the earth’s crust.

The agency said at least 92 small aftershocks had been recorded.