A very strong earthquake that strucksouthwest Japan killed one person and injured at least three,
cracked walls and cut telephone lines, authorities said.
    The quake, at 0336 GMT, registered 6.9 on the Richter
scale, and officials issued warnings of tidal waves of up to
two metres high, they said.
    A man died in Miyazaki prefecture when his truck
overturned, and another was seriously hurt when his roof caved
in, police said. Two primary school children were hurt by
flying shards of glass as they sat in their classroom. The
extent of their injuries was not immediately known.
    A police spokesman in the western Kyushu city of Miyazaki,
one of the worst hit areas, said walls cracked all over town.
    Weather officials told Reuters the quake's epicentre was 50
km underground and 40 km offshore east of the city of Hyuga, on
Kyushu's eastern coast.
    Maritime Safety Agency authorities ordered fishermen along
the Kyushu coast to return to port, and dispatched a fleet of
six search boats to see them safely back.
    Telephone links with the island were badly disrupted and
all trains in the area were been stopped as a precaution,
police said.
 REUTER
