Cleanup begins after 7.4 quake shakes north Japan, killing 4
Residents in Fukushima and Miyagi were cleaning up after a sleepless night after a powerful 7.4-magnitude earthquake struck off the northern Japanese coasts, smashing furniture, knocking out power, and killing four people. The region is part of an area devastated by a deadly 9.0 earthquake and tsunami 11 years ago, which caused nuclear reactor meltdowns and released massive amounts of radiation, rendering some areas uninhabitable. Hirokazu Matsuno, Chief Cabinet Secretary, told reporters Thursday morning that four people died in the quake and that the causes of their deaths are being investigated, while 107 others were injured. In Soma City, a man in his 60s died after falling from the second floor of his house while attempting to escape, and a man in his 70s panicked. The Japan Meteorological Agency lifted its low-risk tsunami advisory for the Fukushima and Miyagi prefectures early Thursday. Tsunami waves up to 30 centimetres (11 inches) high hit the shore in Ishinomaki, about 390 kilometres (240 miles) northeast of Tokyo. The magnitude of the quake was increased from 7.3 to 7.4, and the depth was reduced from 60 kilometers (37 miles) to 56 kilometers (35 miles). Residents in hard-hit areas discovered new damage in broad daylight Thursday, cleaning their homes, repositioning fallen furniture and appliances, and scooping up broken dishes and windows.Employees were beginning to clean up at a hotel in Yabuki town, Fukushima prefecture, where a wall had been broken, the front door had been thrown out of place, and dishes had been broken. "I'm not sure where to begin," hotel president Mineyuki Otake told NHK. Broken walls of a department store building fell to the ground, and shards of windows were scattered on the street near the main train station in Fukushima city, the inland prefecture capital. Roads were cracked, and water poured from underground pipes. On Thursday, the Self-Defense Forces delivered fresh water to residents in Soma, Iitate, and several other Fukushima coastal towns whose water systems had been damaged. According to Japan's Nuclear Regulation Authority, a fire alarm went off at the turbine building of Fukushima Daiichi's No. 5 reactors, but there was no actual fire. Water pumps for the spent fuel cooling pool at two of Fukushima Daini's four reactors briefly shut down before restarting. The Fukushima Daini nuclear power plant, which survived the 2011 tsunami, is also scheduled for decommissioning.