Powerful Quake Hits Northeastern Japan

Tokyo, Dec. 9 (Jiji Press)–A powerful earthquake struck Japan’s Tohoku northeastern region, including Aomori Prefecture, on Monday night, measuring up to upper 6, the second-highest level on the country’s seismic intensity scale. The temblor, with an estimated magnitude of 7.6, occurred at a depth of about 50 kilometers off the east coast of Aomori around 11:15 p.m., with upper 6 registered in the city of Hachinohe in the prefecture and lower 6, the third highest level, in the Aomori towns of Oirase and Hashikami. The Japan Meteorological Agency issued tsunami warnings to the Pacific coastal areas of Aomori and the central part of the Pacific coastal areas of the northernmost prefecture of Hokkaido as well as Iwate Prefecture, an Aomori neighbor. A tsunami of 50 centimeters was observed in the Iwate city of Kuji, and 40-centimeter tsunamis in the Aomori village of Rokkasho and the Hokkaido town of Urakawa, according to the agency. No abnormalities were found after the earthquake at Tohoku Electric Power Co.’s Higashidori nuclear power station in the Aomori village of Higashidori, its Onagawa nuclear plant, which straddles the city of Ishinomaki and the town of Onagawa in Miyagi Prefecture, part of Tohoku, and Hokkaido Electric Power Co.’s Tomari nuclear plant in the Hokkaido village of Tomari, according to the secretariat of the Nuclear Regulation Authority. Work is underway to assess whether there is any damage to Japan Nuclear Fuel Ltd.’s spent nuclear fuel reprocessing plant in Rokkasho. East Japan Railway Co., or JR East, suspended outbound services of its Tohoku Shinkansen bullet train line’s section between Shin-Aomori Station in Aomori Prefecture and Fukushima Station in Fukushima Prefecture in Tohoku. Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi instructed her government staff to quickly figure out the extent of possible damage from the earthquake, provide accurate information to the public and rescue people affected by the natural disaster. At an emergency press conference early Tuesday, Chief Cabinet Secretary Minoru Kihara said that the government is working to confirm if there are any casualties and property damage. The government set up an emergency response office at the crisis management center of the prime minister’s office in Tokyo. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]