Strong earthquake strikes off northeastern Japan

http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/story/2012/12/07/japan-earthquake.html

Strong earthquake strikes off northeastern Japan
The Associated Press Posted: Dec 7, 2012 3:41 AM ET Last Updated: Dec 7, 2012 4:37 AM ET

A strong earthquake struck Friday off the coast of northeastern Japan in the same region that was hit by a massive earthquake and tsunami in March 2011. Authorities issued a warning of a possible tsunami.

The Japan Meteorological Agency said the earthquake had a preliminary magnitude of 7.3 and struck in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Miyagi prefecture at 5:18 p.m. local time. The epicentre was 10 kilometres beneath the seabed.

After the quake, which caused buildings in Tokyo to sway for at least several minutes, authorities issued a warning that a tsunami potentially as high as two metres could hit. Ishinomaki, a city in Miyagi, reported that a tsunami of 1 metre hit at 6:02 p.m.

The West Coast/Alaska Tsunami Warning Center said there was no tsunami danger for British Columbia, Alaska, Washington state, Oregon and California.

Miyagi police said there were no immediate reports of damage or injuries from the quake or tsunami, although traffic was being stopped in some places to check on roads.

Coastal residents urged to flee
NHK television broke off regular programming to warn that a strong quake was due to hit shortly before the earthquake struck. Afterward, the announcer repeatedly urged all near the coast to flee to higher ground.

Buildings in Tokyo swayed for at least several minutes.

The magnitude-9.0 earthquake and ensuing tsunami that slammed into northeastern Japan on March 11, 2011, killed or left missing some 19,000 people, devastating much of the coast. All but two of Japan's nuclear plants were shut down for checks after the earthquake and tsunami caused meltdowns at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant in the worst nuclear disaster since the 1986 Chornobyl disaster.

Immediately following Friday's quake, there were no problems at any of the nuclear plants operated by Fukushima Daiichi operator Tokyo Electric Power Co., said a TEPCO spokesman, Takeo Iwamoto.