March 21, 2005
MSNBC Canada

Photo: Collapsed houses are seen on the island of Genkaijima in Fukuoka, southern Japan in this aerial view photo March 20, 2005. A powerful magnitude 7.0 earthquake hit Japan's southernmost main island of Kyushu on Sunday, and a media report said a woman was killed and at least 400 people injured in the tremor, which caused some houses to collapse and forced hundreds to flee their homes. REUTERS/Kyodo

TOKYO - A powerful earthquake shook southern Japan on Sunday, killing one person and injuring more than 500 others as it rocked office buildings, knocked out power and prompted a tsunami warning.

The Japanese Meteorological Agency cancelled the tsunami advisory after an hour.

The agency said it registered 85 aftershocks late Sunday and warned an aftershock of magnitude 6.0 was possible.

The hardest hit area appeared to be the island of Genkai, where 65 homes were destroyed by a mudslide. The military brought 500 of the island's 700 residents to the mainland.

NHK TV showed footage of office towers and street lamps shaking violently in Fukuoka city, about 900 kilometres southwest of Tokyo.

An initial quake of magnitude 7.0 struck shortly before 11 a.m. local time. It was centred at an extremely shallow depth below the ocean floor off the coast of Kyushu Island, the JMA said.

Photo: Evacuees sit and rest at a make-shift evacuation center in Fukuoka after a powerful quake in Fukuoka, southern Japan, Sunday, March 20, 2005. A powerful magnitude-7.0 earthquake struck off the coast of southern Japan on Sunday, killing an elderly woman and injuring at least 400 people, damaging buildings and leaving residents shaken by aftershocks. (AP Photo/Shizuo Kambayashi)

An old woman died in hospital after a wall collapsed on her, the Kyodo News agency reported. Hers is the only reported death.

Public broadcaster NHK TV said many people were injured as cabinets fell or by breaking glass. A man in Okawa city broke bones when he jumped from the second floor of his home.

About 1,000 people in Fukuoka prefecture spent the night in temporary shelters.

Sidewalks cracked and bits of retaining walls fell off.


Japan often hit by quakes

Photo: Members of the Japanese Ground Self-Defence Force inspect the scene of an earthquake-damaged road on Genkaijima island, north of Fukuoka city in northern Kyushu March 20, 2005. About 600 of 700 residents evacuated from the island after a powerful earthquake of magnitude 7.0 hit Japan's southwestern island of Kyushu on Sunday. REUTERS/Kimimasa Mayama
Earthquakes are common in Japan, which lies in one of the world's most seismologically active regions.

In the worst recent incident, a series of quakes struck in late October and killed 39 people. The quakes cut water and gas services in Niigata prefecture, about 250 kilometres north of Tokyo, and left more than 46,000 people living in emergency shelters.

That quake was the most devastating in Japan since 1995, when a quake with a magnitude of 7.2 killed 6,000 people in Kobe.


http://www.cbc.ca/storyview/MSN/world/national/2005/03/20/JapanQuake-050320.html