Tsunami Warning After Earthquake Off Japan’s Coast

Hazardous tsunamis are possible for parts of Japan’s east coast within 300 kilometers (about 186 miles) of the earthquake’s epicenter, the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said.

It was the largest natural disaster in northeastern Japan since the 2011 one and some large aftershocks the same day. A total of 12 people have been reported injured slightly in Fukushima, Miyagi, Chiba and Tokyo, including one struck by falling tableware at home and another cut by broken glass at a nursing home.

The powerful quake also shook buildings in Tokyo, 230 kilometres to the south. As further evidence of how devastating the 2011 quake was, the JMA said the Tuesday quake was an aftershock, five years later.

After seven hours, the warnings and advisories were lifted, but the agency told residents to remain cautious – that another large quake could hit in the next few days.

Yoshihide Suga, the government’s main spokesperson said, “The government will continue to gather information on any damage and closely co-operate with local authorities”.

In its latest update, Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) clarified that there was no tsunami damage expected but warned that the sea level would change slightly.

It brought back memories of the 2011 disaster, when much larger tsunamis rushed up rivers and overflowed, wiping away entire neighbourhoods.

All tsunami warnings and advisories have been lifted in Japan, seven hours after a powerful offshore natural disaster triggered a series of moderate tsunami waves.

The height of waves triggered by the quake varied in different coastal regions, from 1.4 meters at Sedai port in Miyagi Prefecture to 60 cm at Onahama Port in Fukushima Prefecture.

A spokeswoman for Tokyo Electric Power, known as Tepco, said the cooling system for a storage pool for spent nuclear fuel at reactor at its Fukushima Daini Plant had been halted, but a spokesman said the cooling system had restarted soon after.

Only two reactors are operating in Japan, both in the southwest of the country.

In the aftermath of the quake, TEPCO confirmed that the cooling system in one of the three intact reactors stopped working, but was successfully restarted 90 minutes after its abrupt shutdown.

“I’m used to how there seems to be more earthquakes now, and it’s only a matter of time before a stronger one”, said the manager of a construction firm. Areas like the Tohoku region, pictured above, suffered a 50-foot wave that killed 18,000 people and left thousands of others without permanent housing to this day. And it was so terrible.

“There was this boom, and a shaking, a swaying to the side kept going”, he said, adding it lasted about 30 seconds. “But nothing fell from shelves”.