Tsunami waves of over 1 metre hit north-eastern Japan on Tuesday after a magnitude-7.4 earthquake rocked the region, the same hit by a 2011 quake and tsunami which caused a nuclear meltdown at Fukushima power plant, according to dpa. Waves of up to 1.4 metres hit Sendai port in north-eastern Japan at 8.05 am (2305 GMT Monday), broadcaster NHK reported, citing the Meteorological Agency. The quake prompted the agency to issue a tsunami warning in the prefectures of Miyagi and Fukushima for waves of up to three metres. Authorities urged residents in the coastal areas of the region to move to higher ground. Waves of up to 90 centimetres were recorded in the prefecture of Fukushima, one hour after the quake, the agency said. Up to 80 centimetres of tsunamis were also observed in the prefectures of Ibaraki, Iwate and Chiba, it said. In March 2011, a magnitude-9 quake and resulting tsunami struck the same region, claiming the lives of about 18,500 people and causing Japan's worst nuclear accident at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station. No abnormalities had been detected at the plant on Tuesday, broadcaster NHK reported, citing the operator Tokyo Electric Power. However, the quake brought a fuel cooling system to a halt at Reactor 3 at Fukushima Daini Nuclear Power Station, 10 kilometres south of the Daiichi plant, though there were no risks of radiation leak, regulators said. The plant's reactors have been suspended. The government has not otherwise received any reports of major damage from the region, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga told a news conference. The quake struck at 5.59 am local time and was centred off Fukushima, at a depth of 25 kilometres, the Meteorological Agency said, revising the depth from an earlier estimation of 10 kilometres. The quake has also been revised up to magnitude 7.4, from a preliminary reading of 7.3, according to the agency. The quake shook buildings in Tokyo, 250 kilometres south-west of Fukushima. Earthquake- and volcano-prone Japan sits at the convergence of four tectonic plates.
