Magnitude 6 earthquake hits the coast of Japan off Fukushima – Observer

An earthquake measuring 6 on the Richter scale hit eastern Japan this Thursday, with its epicenter on the coast of Fukushima, but without activating the tsunami warning or causing significant damage.

The earthquake occurred shortly after noon (4am in Lisbon), with its epicenter 40 kilometers deep off the coast of Fukushima province, in the east of the country, according to the Japan Meteorological Agency.

The company that operates the decommissioned Fukushima Daiichi plant, TEPCOsaid on the social network X (formerly Twitter) that “no anomalies” It was detected in the plant complex, which suffered a nuclear disaster due to an earthquake and tsunami in March 2011.

We are conducting field patrol inspections at the Fukushima Daiichi/Daini NPS. Currently, there is no abnormality in the readings from the monitoring posts or plant parameters. There is also no abnormality with our main power system. (as of 12:40 p.m.)

— TEPCO (@TEPCO_English) April 4, 2024

According to the company Tohoku Electric Power, no anomaly was also detected at the Onagawa nuclear plant, in the neighboring Miyagi region, or in the radiation levels in nearby areas.

According to Japanese public television NHK, the earthquake led the railway company JR East to suspend operations of the Tohoku fast train, which connects the capital Tokyo to the city of Sendai, in northeastern Japan, due to the interruption in power supply.

This Thursday’s earthquake in Japan occurred one day after an earthquake measuring 7.4 on the Richter scale hit Taiwanleaving at least nine dead and 1,050 injured, and also leading to the activation of tsunami warnings on the islands of the Okinawa archipelago, southwest of Japan, Taiwan and the Philippines.

7.4 earthquake in Taiwan leaves at least 9 dead and 1011 injured. It is the worst earthquake in 25 years on the island

Japan is located on the so-called Ring of Fire, the most active seismic zone in the world, and suffers earthquakes relatively frequently, which is why the infrastructure is specially designed to resist earthquakes.

The Noto peninsula, a rural and remote area in the center of the Japanese archipelago, suffered a 7.5 magnitude earthquake on January 1 that left more than 240 people dead, particularly due to the collapse of old houses.