Severe Earthquake Hits Japan

Posted by African Examiner Latest Headlines, News, Trending Stories, Uncategorized Monday, May 5th, 2014

Mona Ogbeidi

A strong earthquake has hit Tokyo early Monday morning, causing a major damage and few injuries.

The Japan Meteorological Agency reported that the quake at 5:18 a.m. local time (2018 GMT Sunday) had a magnitude of 6.0 and was centered 160 kilometers (99 miles) under the seabed near Izu Oshima Island south of Tokyo.

The quake which was felt across a wide area of Japan had the strongest shaking registered in central Tokyo, so far. The Tokyo Fire Department has reported that about four people were injured, even though details has not been reported.

The national broadcaster NHK said it was the strongest quake felt in the Japanese capital since the aftershocks of a magnitude-9 earthquake and tsunami in March 2011 off the northeastern coast that left more than 18,500 people dead or missing.

There were no reports of damage or other abnormalities from the Fukushima Dai-Ichi nuclear plant, which was crippled in the 2011 disasters, leading to the closures of all Japan’s nuclear reactors for safety checks.