A powerful magnitude 7.4 earthquake hit off northeastern Japan late Wednesday, leaving at least two people dead and more than 160 injured and causing a high-speed shinkansen train to derail.
Two men in Miyagi and Fukushima prefectures, the areas hit hardest by the 11:36 p.m. quake, died, while the injuries reported as of Thursday morning occurred across a total of 12 prefectures, according to local authorities and the Fire and Disaster Management Agency.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida told a parliamentary session that authorities are looking into a total of four deaths apparently caused by the quake.
The quake also prompted the Japan Meteorological Agency to issue a 1-meter tsunami warning for the Pacific coast of Miyagi and Fukushima prefectures, but the warning was lifted Thursday morning after only relatively small tsunami waves were observed.
“We will take all possible measures to respond (to the disaster),” Kishida told the Diet. Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno said there have been no problems with safety at nuclear power plants in the quake-hit areas.
The temblor, which came two minutes after a magnitude 6.1 quake, registered an upper 6 on Japan’s seismic intensity scale of 7 in parts of Miyagi and Fukushima, the agency said.
At an intensity of upper 6, many people find it impossible to remain standing or move without crawling. The jolts are strong enough to toss people through the air, according to the agency.
The quake, which occurred in waters off Fukushima Prefecture at a depth of about 57 kilometers, was also felt across a wide swath of the country. The agency is warning of quakes of a similar scale in hard-hit areas for the next week or so.
A Tohoku Shinkansen bullet train derailed between Fukushima Station and Shiroishizao Station, but all the 78 passengers and crew members on board were unharmed, according to East Japan Railway Co.
JR East said it halted the operation of bullet trains between Nasushiobara Station and Morioka Station from Thursday morning because of the accident.
The operator said it will take a few days to examine total damage from the quake and that the timing for the resumption of services remains unclear, suggesting that the stoppage may potentially last for a long time.
The Defense Ministry dispatched the Self-Defense Forces for disaster relief in Fukushima Prefecture after receiving a request from its governor. The SDF will provide water service in areas where supply has been suspended due to the quake.
Fire departments in Miyagi and Fukushima received numerous calls requesting emergency assistance, while reports emerged of many people suffering injuries in the coastal city of Soma in Fukushima.
Injuries were reported in not just Miyagi and Fukushima but also Iwate, Akita, Yamagata, Ibaraki, Tochigi, Saitama, Kanagawa, Yamanashi, Chiba and Niigata prefectures, a Kyodo News tally showed.
The quake caused power outages in northeastern and eastern Japan, affecting a total of more than 2.2 million households, including some 700,000 in Tokyo, according to TEPCO Power Grid Inc. and Tohoku Electric Power Network Co. Power was later restored to most.
The country’s nuclear regulator said data shows no abnormalities with reactors and facilities at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, though the cooling system for the spent fuel pools at the No. 2 and No. 5 reactors temporarily stopped.
Cooling systems for spent fuel pools at the Fukushima Daini nuclear power plant and the Onagawa nuclear plant in Miyagi were also affected before recovering.
A fire alarm went off in the turbine building of the No. 5 reactor at the Fukushima Daiichi plant, but no abnormalities were found. The seaside plant suffered multiple meltdowns in March 2011 after being hit by a quake-caused tsunami.
The government set up a crisis management center at the prime minister’s office. Kishida told reporters he instructed officials to gather relevant information and make utmost effort to rescue the injured and respond to those affected by the quake.
The late-night quake left many Japanese, particularly those in northeastern Japan, unsettled as it struck just days after the 11th anniversary of the M9.0 quake that devastated the region.
