The government set up an emergency task force at Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's office, officials said.

The U.S. Geological Survey reported on its Web site a 7.8 magnitude quake centered 443 kilometers (275 miles) east-northeast of the Kuril Islands at a depth of 27.7 kilometers (17.2 miles).

Temblors of magnitude 7 are generally classified as major earthquakes, capable of widespread, heavy damage.

Tsunami waves - generated by earthquakes - are often barely noticeable in the ocean but can rise to great heights once they arrive at shore.

A tsunami advisory was issued for Hawaii, where the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said there was no threat of a destructive wave there. However, Cindy Preller of the Alaska Tsunami Warning Center in Palmer, Alaska said earlier that no tsunami was expected to hit Hawaii or the west coast of North or South America. Preller said there is a slight chance one could hit the western Aleutian Islands off the U.S. state of Alaska.

A magnitude 9.1-magnitude earthquake off the coast of Indonesia on December 26, 2004 caused a tsunami that killed at least 213,000 people in 11 countries. Walls of water went as high as 30 meters along Indonesia's Sumatra island, the hardest hit by the tsunami.

A magnitude 7.7 earthquake off Indonesia's Java island in July this year, triggered a tsunami, which pummeled a 300 kilometer (nearly 200 mile) stretch of coastline, destroying houses, restaurants and hotels. The two-meter (six-foot) -high waves tossed boats, cars and motorbikes hundreds of meters (yards) inland.

Nadezhda Lashkova, a duty officer at Russia's seismic monitoring station in Obninsk, near Moscow, said a powerful earthquake struck near the Kurils. There was no immediate word of damage or casualties. Lashkova said she did not believe there were any towns close to the quake's epicenter.

Both Russia and Japan claim sovereignty over the Kurils. Japan calls them the Northern Territories while Russia calls them the Southern Kurils. The Soviet army seized the islands near the end of World War II and the dispute has prevented the two countries from signing a peace treaty formally ending hostilities.

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