InsideJapan News Network

More than 10,000 people in the city Ofunato, north-west of Japan, were told to leave their home after a powerful earthquake raised fears of a possible tsunami.

The tremor struck with a preliminary magnitude of 7.0 off the coast of Hokkaido.

However, when the wave came ashore it measured only four inches high, reports the Daily Telegraph.

Benyamin Otte, a resident of Ternate, commented: "I could see people on the beach, checking to see if the were any signs of a tsunami, but everything looked normal. Within a half-hour, we were heading back down."

Hiroshi Sasahara, a Hiro town official, told the broadcaster NHK: "Nothing fell off from bookshelves but we found a crack running five to six centimetres along the wall of the town office."

A separate earthquake measuring 6.6 struck beneath the Molucca Sea near north-eastern Indonesia, although geologists believe the two tremors were unrelated.

More than 230,000 people were killed when a tsunami hit Indonesia on Boxing Day in 2004.




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