MOSCOW (AP) – A strong earthquake near Sakhalin island August 2 killed two people in a Russian fishing town and injured up to 10 others, generating small tsunami waves that struck northern Japan.
The quake, with a preliminary magnitude of 6.4, struck at 0238 GMT on the southern tip of Sakhalin, just north of Japan, according to Japan’s Meteorological Agency. It was followed by a second quake of magnitude 5.9 at 2:22 p.m.
One woman died when the roof of a Palace of Culture collapsed in the small port town of Nevelsk, emergency agency spokesman Viktor Beltsov told The Associated Press. A man there died of a heart attack.
He confirmed that two were injured.
The ITAR-Tass news agency quoted Kamil Iskhakov, the presidential envoy for the Far East federal district, saying 10 people were injured in Nevelsk and 240 were left homeless. Four buildings were damaged beyond repair, he said, as aftershocks hit the region.
The population of Nevelsk is about 18,000.
More than 60 rescue workers arrived in Nevelsk and set up tents for families displaced from damaged structures, Tass reported, while some of the homeless sought shelter in two area schools. The quakes cut power to the village, according to the report.
Authorities said the tremors were centered at a depth of 33 kilometers (20 miles) under the Tartar Strait, which lies between Sakhalin and the Asian mainland.
In Japan, tsunami waves of about 30 centimeters (12 inches) hit the coastal city of Wakkanai on the country’s northernmost island of Hokkaido shortly before 2 p.m., according to Japan’s Meteorological Agency.
There were no reports of injuries or damage in Japan. Authorities lifted a tsunami warning for western Hokkaido three hours after the first quake.
Japan and Russia’s Far Eastern provinces form part of the Pacific Ocean’s seismically active “Ring of Fire.”
