Magnitude 7.6 earthquake shook northern Japan with numerous aftershocks affecting local residents.Tsunami warning was issued for several prefectures but it was later lifted. Warnings advised residents to prepare for further potentially powerful earthquakes in coming days.
A powerful earthquake struck off the coast of northern Japan on Monday, prompting a tsunami warning and injuring dozens of people.
The earthquake had a magnitude of 7.6 and caused buildings to sway and bridges to shake. By Tuesday there were no reports of deaths or major damage. 34 injuries — mostly mild — were reported in the area affected by the quake, per CBS News.
On Tuesday morning the Japanese government had lifted the tsunami warning.
“We are continuing to work to understand the damage,” Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said at a news conference on Tuesday, per The New York Times.
According to the Japan Meteorological Agency, the earthquake occurred off Aomori Prefecture on Japan’s main island, Honshu at around 11 p.m. local time.
The original quake was followed by a series of aftershocks on Tuesday, including one with a magnitude of 6.6.
After the earthquake the meteorological agency issued a tsunami warning for Aomori, Iwate and Hokkaido Prefectures and tsunami advisories for Miyagi and Fukushima Prefectures.
Residents were told to evacuate to high ground, before the warnings and advisories were lifted by about 6 a.m. on Tuesday, per The New York Times.
There were tsunami waves of more than 2.2 feet detected at a port in Iwate Prefecture on the island of Honshu. There were also waves of over 1.3 feet recorded at Mutsu-Ogawara port in Aomori Prefecture and Urakawa in Hokkaido.
The epicenter of the earthquake was 50 miles off the coast at a depth of about 30 miles, per CNBC.
In Aomori, the earthquake caused a small water leak at a nuclear fuel processing plant. The leak was contained and Japan’s Nuclear Regulation Authority said there weren’t safety concerns.
Hundreds of households lost power, but no other irregularities were reported at nuclear power plants in the region, per CNBC. The quake also led to fires in a few cities.
This quake was strong enough to make it impossible to keep standing or move without crawling, per CNBC. These types of tremors can cause heavy furniture to collapse and damage wall tiles and windowpanes.
Residents in a wide region from the northernmost island of Hokkaido down to Chiba prefecture, east of Tokyo, have been advised to be on alert for the possibility of a powerful earthquake later in the week.
Japanese officials said “There is a possibility that further powerful and stronger earthquakes could occur over the next several days.”
AloJapan.com