Quake hits Japan, tsumi warning downgraded

Tokyo, Nov 22: An earthquake measuring 7.4 on the Richter Scale hit Fukushima in Japan on Tuesday, the weather agency said, leaving at least 12 people injured. But the Japan Meteorological Agency downgraded the tsumi warning for northeastern prefectures of Miyagi and Fukushima to advisory, Xinhua news agency reported. The epicentre of the quake was at a latitude of 37.3 degrees north and a longitude of 141.6 degrees east and occurred at a depth of 30 km. The temblor was centred in the waters offshore of Fukushima, which borders the Pacific Ocean and is to the northeast of Tokyo. Over 3,000 people fled to evacuation centres in Fukushima, the Japan Times reported. “The sound of sirens brought back memories of the huge earthquake (of 2011),” said Tomomi gakubo, 48, who drove in her car to an evacuation centre in Ibaraki with her 13-year-old son. At 8.03 a.m, 1.4-metre tsumi were observed at Sendai port in northeastern Miyagi prefecture, following the first wave of tsumi at coastline 20 km east of Iwaki city in Fukushima.    (IANS)