Chinese rescuers on standby for relief

BEIJING / SHANGHAI - Chinese rescue workers are on standby to fly to Japan after a massive 8.8-magnitude earthquake unleashed a destructive tsunami.

The powerful tremor that struck off Japan's Pacific coast on Friday was felt in China's eastern coastal region and as far away as Beijing, but Chinese authorities said the country faced no threat of a "disastrous" tsunami.

Chen Jianmin, director of the China Earthquake Administration, said authorities had put relief personnel, equipment and medicine in place, "ready to depart for Japan at any time", Xinhua News Agency reported.