Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida later said that no “anomaly” had been detected at any of the country’s nuclear plants. He told a news conference that a bullet train derailed near Fukushima as a result of the earthquake, but no injuries were reported.
Kyodo News Agency reported that the quake-hit people were taken to a hospital in the city of Soma in Fukushima, without specifying the number of injured. Power has been restored to all parts of Tokyo, Tokyo Electric Power said.
The Japan Meteorological Agency on Thursday urged the public to be aware of more seismic activity in the next few days. Masaaki Nakamura, an official with the agency, urged people in the affected areas to stay away from the coast and not enter the sea until tsunami warnings are lifted. He also urged people to be vigilant about the dangers of mudslides.
The agency said the quake’s initial epicenter was 60 km (37 miles), and a tsunami warning was issued for eastern Japan’s Fukushima and Miyagi prefectures.
It warned of tsunami heights of up to one meter above normal tidal levels, with the initial waves arriving ashore at midnight local time (11 a.m. ET).
At about 12.29 a.m. local time Thursday (12.29 p.m. ET Wednesday), an 8-inch tsunami occurred along the coast of Japan’s Miyagi Prefecture, according to the Japan Meteorological Agency, which also urged people in affected areas to stay away from the coast. There is still a tsunami warning.
Wednesday’s quake was centered 55 miles (89 kilometers) from the devastating 2011 earthquake that triggered a tsunami with 30-foot waves that destroyed several nuclear reactors in the area. More than 22,000 were killed or missing in that disaster. The initial earthquake, tsunami, and post-disaster health conditions caused deaths.
The 2011 Japan earthquake had a magnitude of 9.1, about 63 times stronger, and released about 500 times more energy than Wednesday’s earthquake.
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