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By Stuart Biggs
July 19 (Bloomberg) -- A magnitude-7.0 earthquake struck off Japan's eastern coast, the U.S. Geological Survey said on its Web site. There were no reports of injuries or damage, public broadcaster NHK said.
The quake struck at 11:39 a.m. Japan time, 125 kilometers (75 miles) east-northeast of Iwaki, a city 180 kilometers north of Tokyo, at a depth of 27 kilometers, the USGS said.
Japan's weather agency issued a tsunami alert for coastal areas, warning of waves of up to 50 centimeters (20 inches) from the quake, which shook buildings in central Tokyo. The agency removed the warning at 1:20 p.m. local time.
Coastal areas of Miyagi and Fukushima prefectures were hit by waves of up to 20 centimeters about one hour after the earthquake hit, NHK reported.
Japan, which experiences about 20 percent of the world's earthquakes annually, lies in a zone where the Eurasian, Pacific, Philippine and North American tectonic plates meet and occasionally shift, causing quakes.
Twelve people died and 10 remain missing after a 6.8- magnitude earthquake in the north of Japan last month, according to the government's Fire and Disaster Management Agency.
To contact the reporter on this story: Stuart Biggs in Tokyo at sbiggs3@bloomberg.net.
Last Updated: July 19, 2008 01:00 EDT
