Two Quakes Strike Japan With No Injuries Reported

A pair of earthquakes rattled Japan on Saturday night, causing no reported injuries or damage. The stronger tremor, magnitude 5.4, originated off Aomori prefecture's Pacific coast, roughly 550 kilometers north of Tokyo, at a depth of 70 kilometers. A 4.4-magnitude quake followed 16 minutes later near Sado island, about 300 kilometers northwest of Tokyo. Officials confirmed neither event posed a tsunami risk.

Sado belongs to Niigata prefecture, which suffered Japan's deadliest quake in a decade last October, killing 40 people. Japan accounts for 20 percent of the world's powerful earthquakes. A government panel warned Friday that a major Tokyo tremor could kill 13,000 people and cause 1.1 trillion dollars in damage.

Historical summary. TurkishPress restated this AFP wire report, first published in February 2005, in its own words.