The east of the island of Honshu (Japan) was shaken, Wednesday March 16 in the evening, by a violent earthquake felt as far as Tokyo, of magnitude 7.3, according to the Japanese Meteorological Agency (JMA). It issued a tsunami warning for much of the northeast coast. The epicenter of the earthquake, which occurred at 11:36 p.m. local time (3:36 p.m. Paris time), was located at sea, about fifty kilometers from the city of Minamisoma, in the Fukushima department, 60 km deep, according to the JMA.
The United States Geological Survey locate the epicenter of the earthquake at the blue dot on the map below. It is very close to that of the 2011 earthquake, which caused a deadly tsunami and the Fukushima disaster.
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As a reminder, at the time of the Fukushima disaster in 2011, the earthquake was of magnitude 9.1. Its epicenter was located in the same area as that of March 16, 2022, east of Honshu, the main island of Japan. It is not yet known if the earthquake caused any casualties.
A warning for one meter high waves has been issued by the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA). State broadcaster NHK reported a 20cm wave in Ishinomaki, Miyagi Prefecture bordering Fukushima Prefecture to the north.
The Japanese Nuclear Safety Agency said that no anomaly had been detected at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, which has not been in operation since the 2011 tsunami. Nor has any anomaly been confirmed at the Fukushima Daini power station (No. 2), also shut down since 2011, located about ten kilometers from that of Daiichi, nor that of Onagawa, in the department of Miyagi, according to the government spokesman Japanese, Hirokazu Matsuno.
The JR East railway company, which serves northeastern Japan, has reported significant disruptions to its network. A shinkansen, the Japanese bullet train, derailed north of the city of Fukushima, according to JR East. But no injuries were reported.