A strong earthquake measuring 6,8 on the Richter scale struck in the Sea of Japan off Kyoto, western Japan, the meteorological agency said on Monday — hours after a separate quake that killed at least seven people and injured nearly 700 others.
The latest quake occurred at 2.13pm GMT with the epicentre located 370km under the seabed, the agency said, adding that there was no fear of tsunami waves. There were no immediate reports of casualties or damage following the tremor, government officials said.
Earlier, it was reported that water containing some radioactive materials leaked from a nuclear power plant in the country after the first strong earthquake on Monday.
”We have confirmed that water containing a slight amount of radioactive materials leaked out of the facility,” said Shougo Fukuda, a spokesperson for Tokyo Electric, the firm running the facility.
”But the leakage is believed to be far below the levels that could affect the environment,” he said, adding that no workers at the plant were exposed to radiation.
The first, deadly 6,8-magnitude earthquake also ignited a fire at the site, the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa facility, one of the world’s largest nuclear power plants.
Black smoke billowed for hours from the plant until the blaze was extinguished. Fukuda said it was not immediately known if the earthquake or the fire caused the radioactive water leakage.
The fire was centred on electricity-supply facilities and not the nuclear reactors themselves, which were automatically shut down by well-established quake safety measures, Tokyo Electric said.
Monday’s earthquake reduced homes to rubble in the areas hardest hit north-west of the capital, Tokyo, and triggered small tsunami waves. Dozens of aftershocks hit throughout the day as thousands of people flocked to schools and other temporary shelters to spend the night.
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe broke away from election campaigning to race to the scene.
Rescue workers were hunting for anyone buried alive in the wreckage after nearly 300 buildings were flattened by the quake, which also shook skyscrapers in the capital even though it lies more than 200km from the epicentre. — Sapa-AFP