4 dead, over a 100 injured in Japan after powerful overnight earthquake

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4 dead, over a 100 injured in Japan on after powerful overnight earthquake

Mar 17, 2022: According to a report by AFP, four people were reported dead and more than 100 injured in Japan on Thursday after an overnight earthquake rattled large parts of the east coast and prompted a tsunami warning.

The quake struck at a depth of 60 kilometres not long after 11.30 pm and was preceded minutes earlier by a 6.1-magnitude shake in the same area, Japan’s Meteorological Agency said.

The second more powerful, 7.4 magnitude earthquake off the coast of Fukushima caused a bullet train to derail, cracks appeared on highways and products were thrown off store shelves. The quake triggered a tsunami warning for waves of up to a metre in parts of northeast Japan which was later lifted in the early hours of Thursday.

Several small tremors continued to hit the region until Thursday morning, triggering stress among residents just days after Japan marked the 11th anniversary of a major earthquake, tsunami and nuclear disaster in the region. Japan is part of the Pacific “ring of fire” an area marked by intense seismic activity that stretches through Southeast Asia and across the Pacific basin.

Being a country with tough building codes intended to protect against devastation from frequent earthquakes, the damage was minor according to reports by authorities who also said nuclear plants remain unaffected.

Government spokesman Hirokazu Matsuno said four deaths had been reported, though investigations were still under way into whether they were a direct result of the quake. Another 107 people were injured, he added.

TEPCO, operator of the Fukushima Daiichi plant, said its facilities were operating normally on Thursday.

Loss of power was reported around two million homes in Tokyo and elsewhere in the immediate aftermath of the quake, but power was progressively restored throughout the night. Some 30,000 homes were still without power on Thursday morning, with another 4,300 without water.

The quake also resulted in the derailment of the Shinkansen bullet train north of Fukushima city. There were no injuries in the derailment, but 75 passengers and three staff on board were trapped for four hours before being able to escape the train.

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Tsunami warning for Japan after powerful earthquake

 

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