A powerful 7.3 magnitude earthquake rocked Japan at 2:36 p.m. UTC (10:36 a.m. EST) Wednesday, leaving over two million residences in and around Tokyo without electricity, according to reports.
The earthquake struck 60 kilometers, or some 37 miles, below sea level in the Pacific Ocean near the Fukushima prefecture on Japan’s east coast, the Japan Meteorological Agency reports. A tsunami advisory has been issued for the country’s Fukushima and Miyagi prefectures for wave surges of up to three feet.
The Associated Press reports:
The region is part of northern Japan that was devastated by a deadly 9.0 quake and tsunami 11 years ago that also caused nuclear plant meltdowns.
The Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings [TEPCO], which operates the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant where the cooling systems failed after the 2011 disaster, said that workers were checking for any possible damage.
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More than 2 million homes were without electricity in the Tokyo region serviced by TEPCO due to the quake, the utility said on its website. The quake shook large parts of eastern Japan, including Tokyo, where buildings swayed violently.
The U.S. Tsunami Warning System noted At 2:51 p.m. UCT that “a destructive Pacific-wide tsunami is not expected and there is no tsunami threat to Hawaii.” One minute later it announced, “There is no tsunami danger for the U.S. West Coast, British Columbia, or Alaska.”
Casualties were not immediately reported, the Associated Press noted.