Powerful earthquake hits Japan off Fukushima coast as tsunami warning issued

People in Japan describe it as ‘one of longest’ and ‘scariest’ tremors they have felt

(JMA)

A powerful earthquake has shaken Japan and triggered tsunami warnings after it struck off the coast of Fukushima.

The tremor had a magnitude of 7.3 and hit in the ocean around the northeast of the country, meteorologists said.

It rocked large parts of eastern Japan – including Tokyo, where buildings violently shook and power was cut off – as it struck around 11.30pm local time (2pm GMT) on Wednesday.

People called it the “longest” and “scariest” earthquake they had ever experienced, as they took to social media after it happened.

The Japan Meteorological Agency issued a tsunami advisory after the tremor hit around 60km underneath the sea off the coast of northeastern Japan.

It warned a tsunami could hit at a height of one metre and urged people to stay away from coastal areas around the Miyagi and Fukushima prefectures.

The earthquake came only days after the region in northern Japan marked the 11th anniversary of the deadly 9.0 quake and tsunami, which also caused nuclear plant meltdowns, in March 2011.

Japan’s Air Self-Defence Force said it dispatched fighter jets from the Hyakuri base in Ibaraki prefecture, just south of Fukushima, for information gathering and damage assessment.

The operator for the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant, the Tokyo Electric Power Company (Tepco), where the cooling systems failed after the 2011 disaster, said that workers were checking for any possible damage.

More than 2 million homes were without electricity in the Tokyo region, while the quake shook large parts of eastern Japan, where buildings swayed violently.

The East Japan Railway Company said most of its train services were suspended for safety checks.

There were no immediate reports of casualties or damage in the wake of the tremor.

Fumio Kishida, the Japanese prime minister, said the government was working to assess the extent of any damage after the earthquake.

“Please first take action to save your life,” Kishida tweeted.

The area was also hit by an earthquake of the same magnitude in February last year, which left nearly a million homes without power.