Tsunami alert in Japan after a magnitude 7.3 earthquake in Fukushima

Japan has activated the tsunami warning this Wednesday after a magnitude 7.3 earthquake off the coasts of Fukushima and Miyagi, in the northeast of the country.

The earthquake took place at 11:36 p.m. (local time, 2:36 p.m. GMT), at a depth of 60 kilometersaccording to the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA), which has warned about a possible tsunami in the area most affected up to a meter in height.

The earthquake has preceded another earthquake of lesser intensity and it has reached a high level of six on the Japanese scale, out of a maximum of seven and focused on measuring the agitation on the surface and the affected areas, rather than on the intensity of the tremor.

Also the United States Geological Survey (USGS) has located the epicenter of the earthquake off the coast of the Fukushima region and the tsunami warning center of the Pacific has warned of the possibility of a sudden rise in the water level. According to the Japanese chain ‘NHK’, the notice mainly affects the prefectures of Fukushima and Miyagi, the closest to the epicenter.

Emergency meeting of the Japanese Government

Local authorities have reported strong tremors and even supply interruptions electricity in several areas of the country and the Japanese Prime Minister, Fumio Kishida, has called a emergency meeting to coordinate monitoring of the situation and analyze possible damage.

So far, they have been confirmed. blackouts in several cities, even in areas of the capital, where the earthquake – which has been strongly felt in other areas of eastern and central Japan – has reached level four on the Japanese scale. In addition to large areas of Tokyo, the earthquake has caused electrical outages in the town of Soma, in Fukushima, and in the neighboring prefectures of Kanagawa, Chiba and Saitama.

For its part, the operator of the fukushima nuclear power plant Daiichi, in the process of dismantling since the nuclear crisis triggered by the great earthquake and tsunami of March 2011, is analyzing whether any damage has been caused by this new earthquake, as well as in other nearby atomic facilities.

What’s more, several high-speed rail lines have been interrupted in the northeast of the country, while they have also been closed as a precaution various sections of motorways, as well as the airport of Haneda in Tokyo.