7.3-magnitude quake rocks Japan; no damage reported
October 26, 2013  04:05
An earthquake of magnitude 7.3 struck today off Japan's east coast, the US Geological Survey said, triggering small tsunamis but causing no apparent damage. 

Japan's meteorological agency said the quake was an aftershock of the magnitude 9.0 earthquake and tsunami that struck the same area in 2011, killing about 19,000 people and devastating the Fukushima Dai-Ichi nuclear power plant. 

Tsunamis of up to 40 centimeters were reported today at four areas along the coast, but a tsunami advisory was lifted less than two hours after the quake. 

Japanese television images of harbors showed calm waters. The quake hit at 2:10 a.m. Tokyo time (1710 GMT) about 290 kilometers off Fukushima, and it was felt in Tokyo, some 300 miles away.

"It was fairly big, and rattled quite a bit, but nothing fell to the floor or broke. We've had quakes of this magnitude before," Satoshi Mizuno, an official with the Fukushima prefectural government's disaster management department, told The Associated Press by phone. "Luckily, the quake's centre was very far off the coast."
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