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Strong Earthquake Hits Northern Japan
AP 14 minutes ago

TOKYO - A strong quake with a preliminary magnitude of 7.8 rocked the northern Japan island of Hokkaido early Friday morning, knocking out power and starting a fire in an industrial area.

The government warned local residets to avoid coastal areas due to the possibility of a tidal wave, or tsunami.

The quake was strong enough to rock buildings on the island and shake books and other objects off shelves. Japan's public broadcaster NHK reported that at least several people had been injured and a fire had broken out in the city of Tomakomai.

Black plumes of smoke and flames could be seen leaping from the site in an industrial area.

Japan's Meteorological agency warned that waves of up to 3 feet were expected to hit coastal areas. The quake, which hit just before dawn, was focused off Hokkaido's eastern shore.

Tsunami are ocean waves caused by seismic activity.

Tsunami of up to 1 foot were observed in some coastal cities, NHK reported.

The meteorological agency said the earthquake (news - web sites) had a magnitude of 7.8 and was focused 36 miles under the seabed.

The U.S. Geological Survey (news - web sites) in Golden, Colo., said the temblor had a preliminary magnitude of 8.

The quake struck in the Pacific Ocean, about 65 miles south-southwest of Kushiro and 495 miles north-northeast of Tokyo, said John Minsch, a USGS (news - web sites) geophysicist. The quake was shallow.

"That makes it more likely to be a tsunami, and there's most likely to be a great amount of damage," Minsch said.

Hokkaido is the northernmost and most sparsely populated of Japan's major islands. Sapporo is the prefecture's capital.

Geophysicist Doug Given in Pasadena, Calif., said the region is "part of the Pacific Ring of Fire, the zone of very large earthquakes (news - web sites) and volcanoes that rings the Pacific Rim."

The USGS had no immediate reports of casualties.