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Crime & Safety

Major Quake, Tsunami Hit Japan, Warning Issued for West Coast of U.S.

Epicenter was 240 miles northeast of Tokyo.

Shoreline-Lake Forest Park Patch staff, Neighbor

The West Coast of the United States and Alaska are under tsunami warning/advisory after a magnitude-8.9 earthquake hit northern Japan late Thursday, Pacific time, generating a tsunami that washed away buildings and cars.

The epicenter was about 240 miles northeast of Tokyo, the U.S. Geological Survey said, but buildings there shook violently, The Associated Press reported.

For more tsunami information go here.

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