Strong quake in far eastern Russia

A powerful earthquake has struck Russia's Sakhalin Island north of Japan but there are no reports of casualties.

The quake, measured 7.0 on the Richter scale and occurred at 0813 local time (2113 GMT on Friday) near Krasnopolye, about 217km (135 miles) north of the island's main town Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk, the US Geological Survey said.

The Russian Emergencies Ministry said cracks appeared in many buildings and several towns suffered power cuts.

Overflowing mountain streams caused mudslides which covered roads around the town of Makarov on the island's east coast, the ministry said.

Nearly 2,000 people were killed in a 7.5 magnitude quake that struck the Neftegorsk area of Sakhalin in May 1995.