The second strong offshore earthquake in three months shook northern Japan late Wednesday, killing three people and injuring more than 150.
Two deaths and most of the injuries occurred in Hachinohe, 240 miles north of Tokyo where television footage showed damaged buildings and shops with broken windows and upturned shelves.The two people were killed when part of a pinball parlor collapsed. Nearby, a 75-year-old woman died of shock, Japanese media reported.
The impact of the quake was felt as far away as Tokyo where high-rise buildings swayed but no damage or injuries were reported.
Japan's Meteorological Agency said the earthquake measured 7.5 on the open-ended Richter scale while the U.S. Geological Survey in Golden, Colo., put the preliminary magnitude at 7.4 with the epicenter about 130 miles east of Hachinohe, or about 390 miles northeast of Tokyo.
Most of the injuries were minor, and several small fires were rapidly extinguished.
Hachinohe, a city of some 240,000 inhabitants, was hit by a power blackout as a result of the quake.
Meteorological Agency officials initially ordered Pacific coastal areas evacuated because of the danger of tidal waves, or tsunami, but lifted the advisory about two hours after the quake.
The quake, which struck at 9:19 p.m. (5:19 a.m. MST), was the fourth tremor to hit Japan since early 1993.
On Oct. 4 an earthquake measuring 7.9 on the Richter scale occurred off the east coast of Hokkaido, injuring 227 people and causing two fatal heart attacks in Japan and over 10 deaths and massive destruction on nearby Russian-held islands.
On July 11, 1993, a quake devastated the tiny island of Okushiri, off the Japan Sea coast of Hokkaido.
That earthquake, a submarine tremor, triggered a huge tidal wave that hit the island about five minutes after the first jolt and claimed the lives of more than 200 islanders.
On Jan. 16, 1993, a quake of 7.8 magnitude hit sparsely populated areas of Hokkaido, killing two people and injuring hundreds when houses collapsed and highways caved in.
The worst earthquake in Japanese history, which measured 7.9 on the Richter scale, was in 1923 when 140,000 people were killed in Tokyo and nearby Yokohama. More than 560,000 homes were destroyed.
A tidal wave 20 inches high was reported at the port city of Miyako, about 60 miles southeast of Hachinohe. Smaller tidal waves were reported elsewhere.
The Tsunami Warning Center in Palmer, Alaska, said it didn't expect any tidal waves to reach the Pacific Coast of the United States. The Hawaiian islands also were out of danger, said spokesperson Wayne Jorgensen.