Northern Japan rattled by strong earthquake

The quake, with a preliminary magnitude of 7.1, hit at 6:39 a.m. (4:39 p.m. Monday EST) and was centered just below the ocean bottom off the east coast of Japan's main island of Honshu, Japan's Meteorological Agency said.

Small tsunami waves measuring 12 and 20 inches hit the coastal city of Ofunato and smaller waves hit at least four other towns. Tsunami waves generated by earthquakes are often barely noticeable in the ocean but can rise to great heights once they arrive at shore.

Ross Stein, a geophysicist with the USGS in Menlo Park, Calif., said the swell amounted to "a surfable tsunami."

The quake hit at a depth of about 18 miles and was centered off the coast of Sanriku in northern Japan, 330 miles east of Tokyo, the US Geological Survey said. It shook buildings across a wide area across northern and eastern Honshu, including Tokyo, and Hokkaido.