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UPDATE 6-Strong quake hits off Japan coast, injuring dozens and triggering blackouts

(Adds injuries, details)

By Issei Kato and Chris Gallagher

IWAKI, Japan, Feb 13 (Reuters) - A strong earthquake hit offthe coast of eastern Japan on Saturday, injuring dozens ofpeople and triggering widespread power outages, but thereappeared to be no major damage and no tsunami warning wasissued.

The earthquake had a 7.3 magnitude and its epicentre was offthe coast of Fukushima prefecture at a depth of 60 km (36miles), the Japan Meteorological Agency said. It shook buildingsfor some time after it hit, shortly after 11:00 p.m. (1400 GMT).

Houses and offices in the capital Tokyo, hundreds ofkilometres away, also swayed and shook. No tsunami warning hadbeen issued, the meteorological agency said.

At least two dozen people were injured, according to reportsfrom the Kyodo news agency.

A Reuters cameraman on location in Fukushima said his 10thfloor hotel room shook for some time. One man at the hotel wastaken to hospital after falling and hitting his head on a door,the cameraman said.

Although injured, the man was still able to walk, thecameraman said.

Television footage also showed broken glass from shopfronts.

Some 950,000 households were initially without power,government spokesman Katsunobu Kato told a briefing carried onpublic broadcaster NHK. The blackouts appeared to beconcentrated in northeast Japan, including Fukushima andneighbouring prefectures.

There were no irregularities at the Fukushima Daiichi andDaini nuclear power plants, or at the Kahiwazaki-Kariwa nuclearplant, owner Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdingssaid.

The utility also said there was no change in the radiationlevels around its plants.

Kato said there were no irregularities at the Onagawanuclear facility.

The quake hit off of Fukushima just weeks before the 10thanniversary of a quake on March 11, 2011 that devastatednortheast Japan and triggered a massive tsunami leading to theworld's worst nuclear crisis in a quarter of a century - onecentred at the Daiichi facility.

Earthquakes are common in Japan, one of the world's mostseismically active areas. Japan accounts for about 20% of theworld's earthquakes of magnitude 6 or greater.(Reporting by Issei Kato, Chris Gallagher, Elaine Lies and YukaObayashiWriting by David DolanEditing by Angus MacSwan, Mark Potter and Frances Kerry)

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