Strong quake shakes Japanese islands

Residents of Tokyo feel the force of the storm

A strong earthquake measuring 6.1 on the Richter scale has hit a string of islands off Tokyo.

It comes after a big increase in volcanic activity - last week a powerful tremor triggered landslides that killed one person.

Pedicab drivers battle with the floods

The quake struck in the early hours of Sunday morning in the Izu island chain, about 170 km (105 miles) south of Tokyo, the Meteorological Agency said.

This latest quake triggered landslides on the nearby island of Niijima, local official Torayoshi Kino said.

Sunday's predawn quake came hours after a volcano erupted on Miyakejima, just south of Kozushima.

The eruption of Mount Oyama, came at dusk on Saturday and lasted just under half an hour, spewing rocks and ash hundreds of metres into the air.

Terrifying

Scientists said it posed no immediate danger to the island's 4,000 inhabitants, but the BBC correspondent in Japan says it caps a terrifying two weeks for them.

The island is part of a chain which has been hit by thousands of earthquakes - and which were pummelled overnight by powerful winds and torrential rain as a typhoon passed overhead.

Typhoon Kirogi left four people dead and four others injured, flooded numerous cities, brought power lines down and buried homes in landslides.

The bodies of two 11-year-old boys were found Sunday in a canal near their elementary school in Yachiyo, some 60km (40 miles) north of Tokyo, police said.

Kirogi is now heading up Japan's Pacific seaboard for Hachinohe, a city 480km (300 miles) north of the capital on the tip of the northernmost island of Hokkaido.

Philippines recovers

Kirogi earlier left a trail of death and destruction as it swept through the Philippines on its way to Japan.

Taiwan is already feeling the effects of the storms

A second typhoon, Kai-Tak - packing winds of 165 km/h (103 mph) and gusts of up to 200 km/h (125 mph) - is continuing to dump monsoon rains on the main island of Luzon.

Disaster officials in the Philippines said the death toll had climbed to 42, and that nearly a million people had sought refuge in evacuation centres following five days of heavy downpour.

Hundreds of buildings have been damaged or destroyed, and the country's chief weather forecaster says the worst of the storms is not over yet.

Kai-Tak is now heading north towards Taiwan.