Quake Shakes Northern Japan

A strong earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 6.7 shook northern Japan and the southern Kuril Islands early today, meteorological officials said.

There were no immediate reports of injuries or damage from the undersea tremor, which occurred at 6:37 a.m. (2:37 p.m. PST Wednesday).

Japan’s Central Meteorological Agency also said there is no danger of tsunamis, or seismic waves caused by earthquakes, hitting Japan.

The earthquake was centered just below the sea floor about 125 miles southeast of the island of Iturup (Etorofu in Japanese), the agency said.

On Japan’s northernmost island of Hokkaido, the tremor was felt most strongly in Kushiro, about 560 miles northeast of Tokyo.