A powerful 6.9-magnitude earthquake hit northeastern Japan on Tuesday. It triggered tsunamis along the coast including a one-metre (3.3-foot) wave that crashed ashore at the Fukushima nuclear power plant.
“The biggest risk now is a case whereby contaminated water is carried away with the tsunami, which pollutes the environment,” TEPCO’s chief decommissioning officer Naohiro Masuda said at the press conference in Tokyo.
No signs of major damage were immediately evident from television images.
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“The tsunami siren warning can be heard from the coastline,” Akemi Anzai, from the city of Minamisoma which lies north of the Fukushima plant, told AFP. “The ground is still shaking. I’m so scared. But my concern is rather the situation at the nuclear plant” she added.
The United States Geological Survey reported the 6.9 magnitude quake, at a shallow depth of 11.3 kilometres (seven miles), struck shortly before 6:00 am (2100 GMT on Monday) in the Pacific ocean off Fukushima.
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The powerful earthquake also shook buildings in Tokyo, which lies about 230 kilometres to the south. Shinkansen bullet train services were temporarily suspended in the region.
Japan is located at the junction of four tectonic plates and experiences a number of relatively violent earthquakes every year.