Japanese quake triggers tsunami warning

He adds: “It really came back”. And it was so terrible.

The tremor brought back bad memories of the 2011 quake and tsunami that killed more than 20,000 people, reported CNN. “But nothing fell from shelves”.

The magnitude 7.4 quake off Fukushima Prefecture has stirred unwelcome memories of Japan’s deadly 2011 disaster, triggering tsunami fears and sending thousands of people fleeing to higher ground.

Top tsunami waves of no more than about 3 meters (10 feet) were expected.

The 9.0 magnitude natural disaster that struck March 11, 2011, damaged the Fukushima nuclear plant and forced the evacuation of the area around it, for fear of radiation. Decommissioning work on the destroyed reactors was suspended and the site inspected.

#Japan #Tsunami Warning- Those in regions under Tsunami Warning should evacuate to safer place such as high ground.

“One concern is not necessarily the size of the natural disaster itself but whether or not it might generate submarine landslides that can themselves generate large tsunamis”, he said.

Waves around 4.5ft were spotted washing ashore around Sendai – which is roughly 45 miles north of Fukushima. By comparison, the waves in 2011 were 10 to 20 meters (30 to 60 feet) high. “We stayed in touch by email”, he said. The quake was felt in Tokyo, about 150 miles away.

A tsunami advisory is in effect for Japan’s Fukushima and Miyagi Prefectures after a 6.9-magnitude quake struck off Honshu just before 6.00 a.m. Tuesday (4.00 p.m. Monday ET). This is the same region that was devastated in 2011 and NHK reminds the people of the catastrophe that left about 18,000 people dead.

Olrich said radioactive contamination that seeped into the surrounding forests during the tsunami five years ago continue to pose a danger to public health and safety.

NHK also showed one person’s video of water rushing up a river or canal, but well within the height of the embankment.

“I’m at a cultural centre where I took refuge during the previous disaster (in 2011)”, one person tweeted. Investors expected the economic impact of the quake and ensuing tsunami to be limited. The U.S. State Department advised Americans in the warning regions to seek higher ground. “But they were not that big”.

Fukushima prefecture says an elderly woman was hit in the head by a cupboard, and a man was injured in the knee by glass shards while struggling with falling furniture.

Since 2011, all nuclear plants on the coast were shut down.

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.

Entire neighborhoods disappeared in 2011 as a torrent of water swept over barriers and carried away homes, automobiles and people. The town remains a no-go zone because of radioactive contamination.