26 injured after strong quake strikes NW Japan

TOKYO - A powerful earthquake jolted northwestern Japan late on Tuesday, causing minor injuries to at least 26 people and a brief evacuation of coastal homes until the risk of a tsunami passed.

Store floors were littered with goods that fell off shelves, and roofs of homes showed bare spots where tiles had shaken loose. But business was returning to normal on Wednesday morning, with trains mostly running as usual and electricity restored to thousands of homes that lost power temporarily.

The magnitude 6.7 quake lasted for as long as 20 seconds and damage included a landslide that struck a road, according to public broadcaster NHK. There were no reports of serious damage from the quake. Minor sea level changes were detected by several coastal cities, but the tsunami warning was lifted after about 2.5 hours.