A strong earthquake shakes Fukushima and Japan revives the fears of 2011

last update:
03/16/2022
20:45 (UTC+1)
Published:
03/16/2022
16:34 (UTC+1)

The magnitude 7.3 earthquake has been recorded at a depth of more than 60 kilometers off the coast of Fukushima and has forced a tsunami alert to be activated.

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A strong magnitude 7.3 earthquake has shaken the Fukushima region this Wednesday and has forced the activation of a tsunami warning. The earthquake, whose damage is being assessed by Japanese authorities, revived fears of the 2011 disaster.

The earthquake struck at 11:36 p.m. local time (2:36 p.m. GMT) on Wednesday, off the coast of Fukushima and Miyagi (northeast) and at a depth of 60 kilometers, according to the Japan Meteorological Agency, which warned of a possible tsunami on that coast of up to one meter in height.

The earthquake, which occurred six days after the 11th anniversary of the devastating earthquake and tsunami In this same area, it 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 the intensity of the tremor.

The tremor was strongly felt in other areas of eastern and central Japan, including Tokyo, where it reached level four on the Japanese scale.

The earthquake caused extensive power supply interruptions throughout the country, in addition to affecting the used and stored nuclear fuel cooling systems at the Fukushima Daini nuclear power plant.

The operator of the plant, TEPCO, detected this problem caused by the earthquake, although it managed to solve it after recovering the power supply, and also reported a false fire alarm in Fukushima Daiichithe plant in the process of being dismantled since the nuclear crisis caused by the 2011 disaster.

The Japanese nuclear regulator reported that no increases in radioactivity have been recorded at the power plants or in their vicinity so far.