A strong earthquake struck off the eastern coast of Japan, causing widespread power outages and injuring dozens of people.
A 7.3 magnitude earthquake struck off the coast of eastern Japan just after 11 p.m. on Saturday (Feb. 13). The Japan Meteorological Agency said the epicenter of the quake was located off the coast of Fukushima Prefecture at a depth of 60 kilometers.
Local media said the quake injured at least 20 people and caused many areas to lose power supply, but did not appear to cause major damage or trigger a tsunami warning. Houses and office buildings in the capital Tokyo, hundreds of kilometers from the epicenter, also shook.
Japan’s Chief Cabinet Secretary Katsunobu Kato told a press conference that some 950,000 homes initially lost power supply and appeared to be concentrated in northeastern Japan, including Fukushima and neighboring prefectural areas.
The head of Tokyo Electric Power Co. said there were no abnormalities at the Fukushima Daiichi and Daiichi II nuclear power plants or at the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear power plant in Japan, and there were no changes in the radiation levels in the surrounding area.
Japan’s Fukushima Prefecture will celebrate the 10th anniversary of the 2011 earthquake on March 11. That earthquake triggered a massive tsunami that severely impacted the local nuclear power plants.
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