Four people have died and more than 100 were injured after a 7.4 magnitude earthquake off Japan’s east coast near Fukushima, but the initial tsunami warning was lifted on Thursday.
Wednesday night’s earthquake toppled parts of houses, partially destroyed roads and caused the derailment of a train, an accident that caused no casualties.
The damage appears relatively minor in relation to the magnitude of the earthquake, which mainly affected the departments of Fukushima and Miyagi.
Government spokesman Hirokazu Matsuno said four people had died and 107 were injured.
The Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) reported that the tremor was recorded at 11:36 pm on Wednesday (11:36 am GMT), with a magnitude of 7.4 (reassessment after the initial announcement of 7.3).
The epicenter was located 60 kilometers deep in the Pacific Ocean, off the coast of Fukushima, where a nuclear power plant was destroyed by a tsunami in 2011.
JMA issued a warning for waves up to one meter high, but authorities only recorded waves of 30 cm in Ishinomaki (Miyagi municipality). The agency recommended that the population stay away from the coast.
The tsunami warning was lifted on Thursday morning, but the government urged residents to remain alert for possible new tremors.
Aftershocks were also recorded throughout the night and some cities issued orders for residents to seek refuge.
At a shelter in the city of Soma (Fukushima), where dozens of residents have taken refuge, Yuzuru Kobashi, 82, told AFP that he intended to fetch tarpaulins with his wife to protect their earthquake-damaged home.
“But at my age I can’t go up on the roof, so we’re going to use it to protect the things we value in the house from the rain,” he explained.
The quake, which was felt strongly even in Tokyo, left more than two million homes without power in the capital and neighboring departments, Tokyo Electric Power (Tepco) reported, but the system was restored a few hours later.
Only 2,500 homes remained without power in the northeast of the country as of Thursday, according to Tohoku Electric Power.
Rail company JR East reported major disruptions to its network. A ‘shinkansen’, Japan’s high-speed train, derailed north of Fukushina city with 75 passengers and three workers on board, but the incident left no injuries.
In the city of Sendai (northeast), a wall has collapsed in the area of the historic castle of Aoba.
Japan observed a minute of silence last Friday in memory of victims of the March 11, 2011 earthquake and tsunami.
The catastrophe left more than 18,500 dead and missing, mainly because of the tsunami, and forced more than 165,000 Fukushima residents to flee their homes due to radioactive emissions.
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