From the evening of March 16 to the early morning of March 17, local time, three earthquakes occurred off the coast of Japan, with the largest magnitude reaching 7.4 (the Japan Meteorological Agency raised the magnitude of the earthquake near Fukushima Prefecture from 7.3 to 7.4 on the 17th, and the focal depth was Corrected from 60 km to 57 km). According to CCTV news reports, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said at a meeting of the Senate Budget Committee that as of 8:00 a.m. local time on the 17th, the strong earthquake late at night on the 16th had killed four people.
According to Japanese media reports earlier, 126 people were injured in the earthquake.
After the earthquake, the Japan Meteorological Agency once issued a tsunami warning to Fukushima and Miyagi prefectures, saying that the height of the tsunami was expected to be about 1 meter. At present, the alarm has been lifted. The highest tsunami height observed before the cancellation was 30 cm at Ishinomaki Port in Miyagi Prefecture, and a 20 cm high tsunami was also observed at Sendai Port in Miyagi Prefecture.
Affected by the earthquake, Tokyo Electric Power Company said that after the earthquake, a large-scale power outage occurred in one of the eight prefectures under its jurisdiction, and the power supply was restored at about 2:50 a.m. local time on the 17th.
According to the Tohoku Electric Power Company, as of 5 a.m. today, 47,800 households in Miyagi and Fukushima prefectures are still without power and are currently undergoing emergency repairs.
In Miyagi and Fukushima prefectures, there are many reports of water outages and leaks. Among them, about 2,000 households in Sendai City were without water, and public hospitals in Fukushima Prefecture also experienced water cuts.
After the earthquake, traffic in many places was affected, and many Shinkansen lines were suspended, but they have been restored one after another. There was also a partial derailment of a Shinkansen train with 96 people inside, but no injuries were reported. Parts of several highways were also closed to traffic due to post-quake safety inspections.
At about 1:50 a.m. local time on the 17th, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said at a press conference that no abnormalities were found in nuclear power plants across Japan after the earthquake.
According to Japanese media reports, after the earthquake, a fire alarm appeared in the No. 5 turbine room of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, but the fire department went to the scene and found no fire. It is said that the monitoring values of radioactive substances at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant have not changed.
The cooling pumps for the spent fuel pools of Units 1 and 3 of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant stopped working at one point, but they are said to have returned to normal.
The Onagawa Nuclear Power Plant in Miyagi Prefecture is said to have no reports of abnormalities caused by the earthquake. Unit 1 of the Onagawa Nuclear Power Plant is currently in a state of disuse, while Units 2 and 3 are in a state of shutdown.
In Ibaraki Prefecture, which is adjacent to Fukushima Prefecture, nuclear energy-related facilities such as the Tokai Nuclear Power Plant have not received any abnormal reports.
In Aomori Prefecture, an area affected by the earthquake, there were no reports of abnormal findings at atomic energy-related facilities in the prefecture.
An earthquake with a magnitude of 6 may still occur in the next week
Japan Meteorological Agency staff said at a press conference in the early morning of the 17th that an earthquake with a magnitude of 6 may still occur in the next week. People should be alert to secondary disasters such as house collapses, landslides and avalanches, and try to stay away from dangerous environments.
The earthquake was strong and shaking for a long time. Fukushima prefectures and Miyagi prefectures observed the largest earthquake intensity of 6. The earthquake intensity set by the Japan Meteorological Agency has a total of 10 grades, ranging from weak to strong, ranging from 0 to 4, 5 weak, 5 strong, 6 weak, 6 strong and 7.
