A series of strong earthquakes hit northeastern Japan today, injuring more than 420 people, causing landslides and power blackouts and causing some 2,500 people to evacuate, officials and media said.
But there were no deaths reported in the earthquakes, which were centred in Miyagi prefecture, about 300 km north of Tokyo.
The first tremor, measuring 5.5 on the Richter scale, hit shortly after midnight. It was followed by a second measuring 6.2 about seven hours later. Aftershocks rattled the area, including one on this afternoon with a magnitude of 5.4.
NHK public television said 421 people had been injured and about 2,500 evacuated. Most of the injuries were not serious.
The quake affected a wide swathe of northeast Japan, a mostly rural area with a few large cities and some high-tech firms.
Two people buried in a landslide were rescued, but officials said the heavy rains posed the danger of more landslides.
About 130,000 homes temporarily lost electric power. Train services in the area were halted and some highways were closed. By evening, about 12,000 homes were still without water.