TOKYO, Friday, Sept. 26 — A powerful earthquake shook northern Japan early this morning, causing power failures, setting fire to an oil refinery and derailing a train.
At least 164 people were injured, most of them by falling objects in their homes, according to the NHK news network. No deaths were reported.
[The Associated Press reported that as of 5 a.m. Friday more than 243 people had been injured.]
Japan's National Meteorological Agency warned residents away from coastal areas, for fear that aftershocks would bring ocean waves, known as tsunamis. There were no immediate reports of widespread damage.
The quake, with a magnitude of 8.0, struck at 4:50 a.m. in the Pacific Ocean about 50 miles off the southeastern coast of Hokkaido, Japan's northern island, about 600 miles north of Tokyo, according to the agency. Aftershocks, including a powerful one at 6:07 a.m., followed.
NHK showed images of shelves shaking furiously inside an office, a fresh crack running up an asphalt road and a fire burning at a refinery in southern Hokkaido.
Train service was suspended on Hokkaido after an express train derailed, injuring one of the 39 passengers, according to Kyodo News.
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/09/26/i...&en=ef8e7d5b2b57d28a&ei=5007&partner=USERLAND
At least 164 people were injured, most of them by falling objects in their homes, according to the NHK news network. No deaths were reported.
[The Associated Press reported that as of 5 a.m. Friday more than 243 people had been injured.]
Japan's National Meteorological Agency warned residents away from coastal areas, for fear that aftershocks would bring ocean waves, known as tsunamis. There were no immediate reports of widespread damage.
The quake, with a magnitude of 8.0, struck at 4:50 a.m. in the Pacific Ocean about 50 miles off the southeastern coast of Hokkaido, Japan's northern island, about 600 miles north of Tokyo, according to the agency. Aftershocks, including a powerful one at 6:07 a.m., followed.
NHK showed images of shelves shaking furiously inside an office, a fresh crack running up an asphalt road and a fire burning at a refinery in southern Hokkaido.
Train service was suspended on Hokkaido after an express train derailed, injuring one of the 39 passengers, according to Kyodo News.
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/09/26/i...&en=ef8e7d5b2b57d28a&ei=5007&partner=USERLAND