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TOKYO - At least one person was killed and at least 40 injured when a strong earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 7.1 jolted the coastal area of central Japan today, the Japan Meteorological Agency said.
A tsunami warning for waves of up to 50 cm (20 inches) was issued for Ishikawa prefecture and public broadcaster NHK said small tsunami had already hit in some areas.
The quake registered a higher 6 on the Japanese seismic intensity scale of 7 in the Noto peninsula in Ishikawa, about 300 km from Tokyo.
In Nanao, a city with a population of around 60,000 on the peninsula, ambulance services were flooded with calls to help people who had suffered burns and injuries, Kyodo news agency said. A local official told NHK he saw cracks and bumps in roads.
"Books fell off bookshelves and it was the worst shaking I have ever felt," one local official told NHK.
The focus of the tremor was at a depth of 50 km below the seabed off the Noto peninsula, the agency said.
Train services and flights in the area were halted, media reports said.
There were no reports of irregularities at nuclear plants in the area.
Earthquakes are common in Japan, one of the world's most seismically active areas. The country accounts for about 20 per cent of the world's earthquakes of magnitude 6 or greater.
In October 2004, an earthquake with a magnitude of 6.8 struck the Niigata region in northern Japan, killing 65 people and injuring more than 3,000.
That was the deadliest quake since a magnitude 7.3 tremor hit the city of Kobe in 1995, killing more than 6,400.
- REUTERS
