Quake jolts northeast Japan, nuclear workers evacuate

Reuters – 50 mins ago

TOKYO (Reuters) - A strong earthquake jolted northeastern Japan on Sunday, and workers at the crippled Fukushima nuclear power plant were evacuated after an alert for a half-meter tsunami was issued by the Japan Meteorological Agency.

The quake monitoring agency said the earthquake had a magnitude of 7.0 and occurred at a depth of 10 km (6 miles) off the northeastern coast.

Broadcaster NHK later reported a tsunami of 10 cm along the northeast coast.

There were no immediate reports of injuries or damage from the quake, NHK said in an earlier broadcast.

The same area was hit by a massive earthquake and tsunami on March 11 that left at least 21,000 dead and missing. The March disaster cut power to the Fukushima power plant and triggered a radiation crisis.

Tokyo Electric Power said all of the workers at Fukushima had been evacuated to higher ground, adding that there was no sign of any immediate further damage at the nuclear plant where workers have been struggling to build a cooling system to stabilize the reactors.

Tokyo Electric said it would be monitoring a massive barge moored just offshore from the Fukushima nuclear power plant that has been used as a temporary storage depot for radiated water for any damage.

The U.S. Geological Survey initially estimated the quake's magnitude of 7.3, but then revised that estimate down to a magnitude 7.

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