Tsunami Advisory Issued as 7.2 Magnitude Earthquake Hits Northeast Japan

A strong magnitude 7.2 earthquake struck off the coast of northeastern Japan at a depth of 60 km on Saturday evening at 6:09 p.m locval time.

In Miyagi Prefecture, where at least one person was injured, the quake measured up to a strong 5 on the Japanese seismic intensity scale to 7.

Tsunami waves of up to 1 meter may have reached the Miyagi Prefecture coast shortly after 6:30 p.m., according to NHK.

Due to the tsunami advisory, the town of Watari in the prefecture issued an evacuation order covering 2,527 homes and 6,911 residents.

Two hundred homes in Kurihara, Miyagi Prefecture were without power, NHK said. The quake caused the Tohoku Shinkansen to suspend services.

The central government has set up a crisis management center at the Prime Minister’s Office, and is working with related ministries, agencies and local governments to collect information on any damage caused by the quake. In Ofunato, Iwate Prefecture, where the quake registered a lower 5, the city has opened evacuation centers at 69 locations.

Municipal fire officials in Miyagi reported no damage from the quake as of 6:30 p.m., but were continuing to gather information. No abnormalities were reported at the Onagawa nuclear power plant in Onagawa, Miyagi Prefecture, NHK said.

“Suddenly, the large tremor continued for about 20 seconds,” the broadcaster quoted a disaster official in Iwanuma, Miyagi Prefecture, as saying. “The shaking caused things on a desk to move, but they didn’t fall, and I felt the shaking was smaller than last month’s earthquake.”

The tremor was also felt in Tokyo, where it registered up to a 3 on the Japanese scale.

The quake comes a little over a month after a 7.3 temblor struck off neighboring Fukushima Prefecture. The Feb. 14 quake caused widespread power outages and left dozens injured.

It also comes nine days after the region marked the 10th anniversary of the magnitude 9.0 Great East Japan Earthquake, tsunami and nuclear disaster that devastated the region and killed over 15,000 people.