WORLD> Asia-Pacific
Small tsunami hit Japan after Samoa quake
(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-09-30 15:13

TOKYO: Small tsunami waves caused by a powerful earthquake that hit Samoa in the Pacific Ocean reached Japan on Wednesday, officials said.

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Japan's Meteorological Agency said tsunami waves, which it described as "very weak," were registered off the island of Hachijojima about 10 hours after the quake. The agency earlier issued a warning of a possible tsunami all along the eastern coast and said larger waves of up to about 1.6 feet (50 centimeters) could follow.

There were no reports of injuries or damage in Japan.

The quake, with a magnitude between 8.0 and 8.3, struck around dawn about 20 miles (32 kilometers) below the ocean floor, 120 miles (190 kilometers) from American Samoa, a US territory.

The agency warned residents to be cautious along Japan's eastern coast from the northern island of Hokkaido to the southern tip of Kyushu island, with the Okinawa islands to the far south also included.

Japan is about 4,700 miles (7,600 kilometers) northwest of Samoa.