Tsunami alert issued and then lifted
The Associated Press
Posted: Apr 7, 2011 10:50 AM ET
Last Updated: Apr 7, 2011 1:41 PM ET
Hotel guests check their mobile phones for earthquake news after they evacuated the building following an aftershock, in Ichinoseki, Iwate Prefecture, Japan, Friday. (Lee Jin-man/Associated Press)Are you in Japan and affected by the quake?
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Containing Fukushima4:40Japan was rattled by a strong aftershock
The Japan meteorological agency initially issued a tsunami warning for a wave of up to one metre, but that was later lifted.
The warning was issued for a coastal area already torn apart by last month's tsunami, which is believed to have killed some 25,000 people and has sparked an ongoing crisis at a nuclear power plant.
Announcers on Japan's public broadcaster NHK told coastal residents to run to higher ground and away from the shore. Residents along the northeast coast were being evacuated.
The U.S. Geological Survey said Thursday's quake was a 7.1-magnitude and hit 40 kilometres under the water and off the coast of Miyagi prefecture. The quake that preceded last month's tsunami was a 9.0-magnitude.
Buildings as far away as Tokyo shook for about a minute. In Ichinoseki, inland from Japan's eastern coast, buildings shook violently, knocking items from shelves and toppling furniture, but there was no heavy damage to the buildings themselves. Immediately after the quake, all power was cut. The city went dark, but cars drove around normally and people assembled in the streets despite the late hour.
Officials at the tsunami-ravaged Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant said there's no immediate sign of new problems caused by the aftershock. Plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Co. said it evacuated two workers there and seven at a sister plant to the south that was not badly damaged.
Paul Caruso, a geophysicist at the U.S. Geological Survey in Golden, Colo., said Thursday's quake struck at about the same location and depth as the March 11 quake. It's the strongest of the more than 1,000 aftershocks that have been felt since, except for a 7.9 aftershock that day.
Thursday's quake struck off the eastern coast 100 kilometres from Sendai and 140 kilometres from Fukushima. It was about 345 kilometres from Tokyo. The depth was 40 kilometres. Shallower quakes tend to be more destructive.
A Pacific Tsunami Warning Center evaluation of the quake said an oceanwide tsunami was not expected. However, it noted quakes of that strength can cause waves that are destructive locally.
© The Associated Press, 2011
New Japan quake
