A strong earthquake that measured 5.2 on the Richter Scale rocked the northern Japanese Island of Kokkaido at about at about 7:45 local time today . Three hours earlier a quake of similar strength off the Philippine Island of Luzon was felt in Manila . They said it struck at 7:44 a.m. (6:44 p.m. Sunday) and was centered in the Hidaka mountain range, 45 miles away from Saturday's earthquake, which measured a preliminary 6.4 on the scale. Every increase of one degree on the scale represents a tenfold increase in magnitude , thus a earthquake measuring 5.2 is ten times stronger than one of 4.2 . Japan 's quakes caused little damage because they occurred far below the earth 's surface . The last quake to cause great damage in Japan occurred in 1968 . It measure 7.9 and claimed 52 lives .
A strong earthquake that measured 5.2 on the Richter Scale rocked the northern Japanese Island of Kokkaido at about at about 7:45 local time today . Three hours earlier a quake of similar strength off the Philippine Island of Luzon was felt in Manila . Every increase of one degree on the scale represents a tenfold increase in magnitude , thus a earthquake measuring 5.2 is ten times stronger than one of 4.2 . Japan 's quakes caused little damage because they occurred far below the earth 's surface . The last quake to cause great damage in Japan occurred in 1968 . It measure 7.9 and claimed 52 lives .