VIDEO: 7.3 earthquake hits near Japan, tsunami warning issued

  • Breaking
  • 07/12/2012

By 3 News online staff

A magnitude 7.3 earthquake has hit off the coast of Japan and a tsunami has hit an area in the Miyagi prefecture.

The earthquake hit at 245km south east of Kaimaishi at a depth of 36km at 5.18pm local time (9.18pm New Zealand time).

A tsunami of 1m hit the Ishinomaki area, in the Miyagi prefecture, at 6.02pm local time (10.02pm New Zealand time).

At least two people have been reported injured, evacuations are in place for some affected areas and buildings in Tokyo reportedly swayed for some minutes.

A tsunami warning was issued for the coastal Miyagi Prefecture, an area hit by a devastating 9.0 earthquake and tsunami in March 2011, but has now been lifted.

The tsunami height was predicted to be between 50cm and 2m and the alert extended from the tip of the main island of Honshu nearly down to Tokyo.

The Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre says there was not any risk of a widespread tsunami.

A New Zealander in Japan, Allanah Faherty, posted on Facebook that she had felt it in the Akita area.

“Yup felt it, went for ages, over 30 secs. Earthquake alert on my phone gave me about 5 secs notice and then it started.”

A presenter on state broadcaster NHK told viewers: "Remember last year's quake and tsunami. Call on your neighbours and flee to higher ground now!"

Immediately following the quake, there were no problems at any of the nuclear plants operated by Fukushima Dai-Ichi operator Tokyo Electric Power Co., said TEPCO spokesman, Takeo Iwamoto.

All Nippon Airways spokesman Takuya Taniguchi said government officials were checking on the runways at Sendai airport. The two jets that were in the air went to other airports and all seven flights scheduled to go to Sendai for the day were cancelled, he said.

3 News / AP

source: newshub archive