BREAKING: 7.3 QUAKE IN NORTHERN JAPAN

7.3? OH DEAR.

UPDATE: The epicenter of the quake was off the coast of Hokkaido in the Sea of Okhotsk... no reports of immediate damage.

UPDATE:

A POWERFUL 7.7 magnitude earthquake has struck in the Sea of Okhotsk off the east Russian coast, US and Japanese monitors say, with the tremor felt as far away as Tokyo. The quake occurred at 12.59 (AEST) today, some 158 kilometres east of Poronaysk, Russia, with the epicentre a comparatively deep 625km down, the US Geological Survey said in an initial report. Japan's Meteorological agency said the tremor was felt throughout the country's northern island of Hokkaido, but the Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre said in a first and final bulletin that a destructive tsunami was not expected. The earthquake caused a jolt in the Japanese capital Tokyo, AFP journalists said.

GLAD THERE ARE NO REPORTS OF SERIOUS DAMAGE OR CASUALTIES - AMAZING CONSIDERING THE STRENGHT OF THE EVENT.

AND IN THE HEELS OF IRAN'S AWFUL QUAKE....

WHEN AND WHERE WILL BE THE NEXT BIG ONE?