TOKYO: Japan lifted tsunami advisories\u00a0that were issued after a major earthquake struck\u00a0the northeast of the country early Tuesday,\u00a0injuring at least 14 people.
\nThe magnitude 7.4 earthquake occurred at 5:59 a.m., local time, off the coast of\u00a0Fukushima prefecture. No deaths or major damage were reported, but transportation was disrupted and residents of low-lying areas were advised to evacuate.\u00a0The quake was felt in Tokyo, about 150 miles away.
\nThe Japan Meteorological Agency said the quake\u00a0was an aftershock of the magnitude 9\u00a0earthquake that caused\u00a0a devastating tsunami in the region in 2011. It warned\u00a0another large quake could strike\u00a0in the coming\u00a0days and urged residents to be\u00a0cautious for about a week.
\nJapan\u2019s Fire and Disaster Management Agency said the seriously injured included two women in their 80s and another in her 60s\u00a0with broken bones, while\u00a0Fukushima prefecture said\u00a0an elderly woman was hit in the head by a cupboard\u00a0and a man was wounded in the knee by glass shards while struggling with falling furniture, the Associated Press reported.
\nThe\u00a0Japan Meteorological Agency\u00a0had issued a tsunami warning for Fukushima and Miyagi prefectures, parts of which are still recovering from the 2011 quake and tsunami.
\nLive television showed vehicles moving away from coastal towns and villages, and ships and fishing vessels moving out to sea.
\nNational broadcaster NHK issued evacuation advisories in Japanese, English and several other languages.
\nA tsunami wave measuring 1.4 meters (4.6 feet) was reported near the city of Sendai, in Fukushima prefecture, but no major damage was reported.\u00a0 The weather agency earlier warned of waves of up to three meters (9.8 feet). The tsunami warning was reduced to a tsunami advisory later in the day before being\u00a0lifted.
\nTokyo Electric Power Co. reported that a tsunami wave of about 1 meter (3 feet) made landfall at the stricken Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant, but that it caused no damage and \u00a0that there was no change in radiation levels at the facility. The plant suffered a partial meltdown when it was inundated by a 13-meter (42 feet) tsunami in 2011; the plant is being decommissioned, a process that is expected to take 30 to 40 years.
\nPower was lost briefly Tuesday in a cooling tank at the nearby Fukushima Dai-ni nuclear power plant, but was quickly restored, according to Tokyo Electric Power Co.
\nMost nuclear power plants in Japan have been shut down since the 2011 disaster.
\nThe airport in Sendai was temporarily closed and bullet train service was interrupted along several rails lines in the region early Tuesday.
\nThe weather agency said the quake occurred off the coast of Fukushima, at a depth of 10 kilometers (6.2 miles). The quake measured a lower 5 on Japan\u2019s intensity scale, the weather agency said.
\nJapan is one of the most seismically active regions of the world and earthquakes are not uncommon.\u00a0 Nearly 16,000 people were killed and more than 2,500 remain missing from the magnitude 9.1 earthquake that struck Japan\u2019s northeastern \u201cTohoku\u201d region on March 11, 2011.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
TOKYO: Japan lifted tsunami advisories\u00a0that were issued after a major earthquake struck\u00a0the northeast of the country early Tuesday,\u00a0injuring at least 14 people. The magnitude 7.4 earthquake occurred at 5:59 a.m., local time, off the coast of\u00a0Fukushima prefecture. No deaths or major damage were reported, but transportation was disrupted and residents of low-lying areas were advised […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6942,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-6936","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n