A strong earthquake hit off the coast of northeastern Japan late Saturday, shaking Fukushima, Miyagi and other areas, injuring dozens of people and triggering widespread power outages, but there was no threat of a tsunami, officials said.
Follow Israel Hayom on Facebook and Twitter
The earthquake had a 7.3 magnitude and its epicenter was off the coast of Fukushima prefecture at a depth of 60 kilometers (36 miles), the Japan Meteorological Agency said. It shook buildings for some time after it hit, shortly after 11:00 p.m. (1400 GMT).
Houses and offices in the capital Tokyo, hundreds of kilometers away, also swayed and shook. No tsunami warning had been issued, the meteorological agency said.
At least 100 people were injured, according to reports from the Kyodo news agency.
Some 950,000 households were initially without power, government spokesman Katsunobu Kato told a briefing carried on public broadcaster NHK. The blackouts appeared to be concentrated in northeast Japan, including Fukushima and neighboring prefectures.
There were no irregularities at the Fukushima Daiichi and Daini nuclear power plants, or at the Kahiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear plant, owner Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings said.
The utility company also said there was no change in the radiation levels around its plants.
Kato said there were no irregularities at the Onagawa nuclear facility.
The quake hit off of Fukushima just weeks before the 10th anniversary of a quake on March 11, 2011 that devastated northeast Japan and triggered a massive tsunami leading to the world's worst nuclear crisis in a quarter of a century, at the Daiichi facility.
Earthquakes are common in Japan, one of the world's most seismically active areas. Japan accounts for about 20% of the world's earthquakes of magnitude 6 or greater.
Subscribe to Israel Hayom's daily newsletter and never miss our top stories!
