More than two million homes were left without power after a strong earthquake rocked Japan’s north-east for more than two minutes.
At around 11:30 last night, a 7.3 magnitude earthquake hit the coast of Japan, and surrounding areas are now on high alert after a tsunami watch was issued by The Japan Meteorological Agency.
The tremor was felt for more than two minutes, about 89 kilometres from the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant which is currently being decommissioned due to the 2011 earthquake and tsunami.
Officials are checking the power plant for any damage caused by the disaster, but the plant operator, Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings, said they haven’t found any abnormalities so far.
At the moment there are two confirmed casualties as a result of the tremor, which could be felt from Tokyo, more than than 250 km away from Fukushima.
CNN correspondent Blake Essig was in Tokyo as the earthquake hit. He told Today, “It lasted for what felt like an eternity.”
“[My wife] was able to record video on her cell of our TV, plants, furniture banging against the walls, everything just rocking back and forth,” he continued. “This was 250 kilometres away from where the really violent shaking took place.”
The quake was strong enough to derail a bullet train between Fukushima and Shiroishizao stations – thankfully nobody was hurt.
Residents are still being warned to stay away from the coast after 30cm waves were spotted in the harbour in Ishinomaki.
