Roundup: Northern Japan rocked by 6.7-magnitude quake, no tsunami warning issued

An earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 6.7 rocked the northern region of Japan at 12:25 JST, the weather agency said.

According to the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA), the epicenter was located off the coast of Urakawa-Oki at a depth of 50 kilometers.

On the Japanese seismic scale of 7, the temblor registered a lower 5, with the tremor felt across the entire Hokkaido region and northern parts of Japan including Aomori Prefecture. No tsunami warning has been issued, the JMA said.

According to officials in the area, the quake hospitalized two elderly women in Sapporo City, Hokkaido, who were knocked over by the temblor, but neither sustained serious injuries.

The earthquake caused the runways at the New Chitose Airport, the largest in Hokkaido, to suspend operations, and the Shinkansen bullet train services were also suspended temporarily in Aomori and Iwate prefectures.

The Tomari Nuclear Power Plant in the town of Tomari in the Furuu District of Hokkaido, was unaffected by the quake, its operator Hokkaido Electric Power Company said.

The Higashidori Nuclear Power Plant in the village of Higashidori in northeastern Aomori Prefecture, on the Shimokita Peninsula, which faces the Pacific Ocean and has been confirmed by Japans's nuclear watchdog to sit upon a geologically active faultily, was also confirmed to have no abnormalities following the quake.

With the JMA warning that aftershocks with a magnitude of up to 4 on the Japanese seismic scale could follow in the course of the next week, a crisis management center has been hastily set up at the prime minister's office.

On Monday, the northeast of Japan was also struck by an earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 4.5 although no tsunami warning was issued. Meteorologists have noticed an increase of seismic activity in the north of Japan of late. Endit