The northeast coast of Japan was hit by a magnitude 7.2 earthquake.
Authorities warned residents of the Miyagi region of a tsunami several hours, but have now withdrawn the warning. “Fortunately, the tsunami was only a meter high,” says correspondent Kjeld Duits.
According to the Japanese news, there is little damage, some roads are closed and some areas have no power. As a precaution, the nuclear power plants in Fukushima have been checked. A spokesperson reports that no problems were found there.
Broken bottles
“It was quite a long quake,” a shop owner in the city of Ishinomaki told Japanese broadcaster NHK. “Many bottles broke.”
The earthquake was around 6 p.m. local time and was also felt in the capital Tokyo, a few hundred kilometers away.
Thousands dead
Ten years ago, a magnitude 9.0 quake triggered a tsunami in the same area. Thousands of people died and reactors at the Fukushima nuclear power plant were badly damaged.
“It was quite a shock for the people. Especially because of the tsunami warning,” says German. “A lot of people have terrible memories of ten years ago.”
Here’s a look back at the earthquake and devastating tsunami of March 11, 2011:
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