Tuesday, December 21, 2010

Quake jolts Japan islands, tsunami warning downgraded

An earthquake with a magnitude of 7.4 jolted islands in the Pacific southeast of mainland Japan, the Japan Meteorological Agency said.

There were no reports of damage, public broadcaster NHK said, and a tsunami warning for Ogasawara islands, about 1,000 km (620 miles) south of Tokyo, was downgraded to an advisory after small tsunami waves hit the islands.

The focus of the tremor was about 130 km (80 miles) northeast of Chichijima Island and about 10 km under the sea, the agency said.

Japan lies in one of the world's most seismically active areas. It accounts for about 20 percent of the world's earthquakes of magnitude six or greater.