The North-Eastern Japan Shaken by a Violent Earthquake

A series of first four waves, the highest measured one meter, three prefectures hit the northeast (Miyagi, Iwate and Fukushima),'' the agency said. At 19 pm local time (11:00 French time), public television NHK reported nine people injured in Tohoku, including a resident of the coastal town of Ishinomaki, aged 75, who had to be treated at hospital after falling while fleeing. The tsunami warning was lifted shortly after 19: 30 pm local time.

Seismic waves could reach two meters off the coast of Miyagi prefecture - the region hardest hit by the tsunami of 11 March 2011 - 50 centimeters and also warned the weather agency on its website. The alert tidal wave involved a long stretch of the Pacific coast of Japan, over 500 km from north to south, from the tip of the northern island of Hokkaido to the east coast Tokyo.

"Flee immediately to the heights"

10:00 French time), up to the city of Ishinomaki, the agency said. In a city of martyrs tsunami of March 2011, Minamisanriku, residents have left their homes for higher ground to get away, after receiving an evacuation order. "We urge people to evacuate to higher areas, through the radio channel special disaster," said an official of the municipality of this coastal town hit hard in March.

"The earthquake was not huge but it lasted long enough. Has nothing to do with that of last year. Municipality is putting in place teams disaster," he said municipal official. On NHK presenter repeating loop: "Remember the earthquake and tsunami last year. Call your neighbors and immediately flee to the hills."

The agency Jiji said the Prime Minister, Yoshihiko Noda, decided to return immediately to his office in Tokyo, where buildings shook strongly also, although the capital is distant several hundred miles from the epicenter. The agency Jiji also indicated that the Shinkansen express trains serving the northeast of the country were halted. Part of the service, however, was restored a little over an hour after the quake.

Traffic was completely stopped on the main highway Tohoku. A moment suspended, traffic resumed almost normally on the two main airports of Tokyo Narita and Haneda.

No fault in nuclear

"We have found nothing unusual in the measurements of the six reactors at Fukushima Dai-ichi plant" (rugged March 11, 2011), said a spokesman for Tepco. Nothing unusual was reported either to the second Fukushima plant (Daini), a dozen miles from the first, nor Onagawa, still indicated the media.

The earthquake justify a national alert tsunami had not triggered similar measure for the rest of the Pacific, according to the warning center for tsunamis in the Pacific, based in Hawaii.

The earthquake occurred at 17 h 18 local time (9 am 18 am French time) off the north-east coast, with a hypocenter estimated at 10 kilometers deep, the agency said weather. According to calculations by the American Institute of Geology USGS, the quake reached a magnitude of 7.3, slightly revised after an initial estimate of 7.4. The USGS announced a replica of 6.2 on the Richter scale, over an hour after the earthquake.

The earthquake of 11 March 2011 had caused a giant tsunami double disaster and had nearly 20,000 deaths and a major nuclear accident in Fukushima.