Earthquake shakes northern Japan

No immediate reports of injury or tsunami risk after quake 6.0 hits Fukushima area devastated in March 2011 tsunami.

Members of Japanese government panel to investigate accident at Fukushima nuclear power plant, inspect damaged building housing No.3 reactor at TEPCO''s Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant — Disaster in 2011 set off world's worst nuclear crisis in 25 years when the Fukushima plant was damaged [Reuters]

A 6.0-magnitude earthquake has shaken northern Japan, but there was no risk of a tsunami, the Japan Meteorological Agency has said.

The focus of the quake, which took place on Sunday at 12:29pm local time (03:29 GMT) was centered off the coast of Miyagi Prefecture, and 50km below the seabed, the area devastated by a 9.0-magnitude quake in March 2011.

Keep reading

Photos: Athens turns orange under North Africa’s Sahara dust clouds

Turtles swimming to extinction in Malaysia as male hatchlings feel heat

Could shipping containers be the answer to Ghana’s housing crisis?

Thousands protest against over-tourism in Spain’s Canary Islands

The quake shook a wide region, including Fukushima and Iwate prefectures. There were no immediate reports of damage or injuries.

Some roads were blocked off and some trains stopped running temporarily for safety checks, Japan’s NHK TV said.

Tokyo Electric Power Co, the operator of the Fukushima nuclear plant which was crippled in the 2011 disaster, said it had received no reports of fresh abnormalities after the latest quake.

Fukushima Daiichi plant went into multiple meltdowns after the March 2011 tsunami, and tons of water are being used daily to keep its reactors under control. Decommissioning is expected to take decades.

Source: News Agencies

Live