Japan’s Fukushima Prefecture Stricken by 5.0-M Earthquake
Japan's Fukushima Prefecture has been jolted by a pair of moderate earthquakes on Wednesday.
The first temblor with a magnitude of 5.0 struck at 9:45 pm JST (8:45 am EDT in the U.S.), according to the Japan Meteorological Agency. The second struck 46 minutes later at a slightly stronger 5.2 magnitude.
JMA said the epicentres of the two earthquakes registered just off the coast of Fukushima Prefecture, where the Fukushima Daiichi and Fukushimi Daini reactors were located. This is about 250 km north of Tokyo, at a depth of 50 km.
On the Japanese seismic scale of 7, the two temblors measured 4 where, according to the agency, are capable to make dishes and objects in shelves rattle.
The two earthquakes did not generate a tsunami warning. There were likewise no immediate reports of casualties and damage.
Tokyo Electric Power Company, the operator of the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, reported seeing no signs of abnormalities at the facilities resulting from Wednesday's quake.
Japan is one of the most seismically active countries in the world because it is located in a zone where the Eurasian, Pacific, Philippine and North American tectonic plates meet and occasionally shift. It usually experiences 20 per cent of the world's earthquakes scaled magnitude 6 or greater. Then again, earthquakes of such magnitude are common for the country.
Just on Sept 16, Japan experienced a 5.6 magnitude earthquake that struck Tochigi Prefecture, rattling Tokyo. Eight people were injured.
The last destructive earthquake that hit Japan was in March 2011, when an offshore magnitude 9.0 quake, dubbed as the Great East Japan Earthquake, triggered a massive 15-metre high tsunami. It hit the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear complex, causing the world's worst nuclear accident since the April 1986 Chernobyl disaster.
A meltdown of several of the plant's reactors and a major leakage of radioactive materials ensued after that tsunami, which is still felt until today. Experts said it will take up to 40 years before the radioactive consequences are totally eliminated.
There have been no deaths or cases of radiation sickness so far reported from the nuclear accident, according to the World Nuclear Association, but over 100,000 people had to be evacuated from their homes.