Tokyo — A powerful 7.3-magnitude earthquake jolted eastern Japan late Wednesday night, rattling the capital Tokyo and prompting a tsunami advisory for parts of the northeast coast, the Japan Meteorological Agency said.
The quake was centered off the coast of the Fukushima region at a depth of about 40 miles and shortly after it hit at 11:36 p.m. an advisory for tsunami waves of about three feet was issued for parts of the northeast coast.
The Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings (TEPCO), the utility company that covers most of the Tokyo region, said on its website that more than 2 million homes were without electricity due to the quake.
The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center later said there was no longer a tsunami threat, though the Japan Meteorological Agency kept its low risk advisory in place. NHK national television said tsunami waves of 8 inches had already reached shore in one area.
Videos posted online showed people’s homes shaking in the capital. YouTube video creator John Daub posted one clip of his home office rattling.
Strong M7.3 earthquake rocking Fukushima, this is my desk in Tokyo now – you can hear the whole apartment building shaking. Scary. pic.twitter.com/UiiM7yzmkN
— John Daub (ONLY in JAPAN) (@ONLYinJAPANtv) March 16, 2022
“Bad memories of March 11, 2011 for us but we’re fine in Tokyo,” Daub said on his Twitter account.
Fukushima was the area devastated by a massive earthquake and tsunami almost 11 years ago. The March 2011 temblor — significantly larger than Wednesday’s with a magnitude of 9 on the Richter scale — sent monster waves crashing deep inland. The flooding swamped the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, causing a meltdown.
TEPCO, which operates the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, said workers found no abnormalities at the site, which is in the process of being decommissioned.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno told reporters that there were also no abnormalities at two other nuclear power plants in the region.
The 2011 disaster left about 15,000 people dead, most of them killed by the floodwaters. The ensuing nuclear catastrophe was formally blamed for only one death, but many cases of cancer in the region have suspected links.
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