(REUTERS) — A powerful earthquake rocked northern Japan on Tuesday (November 22), the Japan Meteorological Agency said, generating a tsunami that hit the same northern Pacific coast devastated by a massive quake, tsunami and nuclear disaster in 2011.
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who is currently in Argentina, said the government will move swiftly to respond to any emergencies.
“We will announce any information regarding tsunami or evacuation swiftly, and will quickly gather information regarding any damages, and will put in our best effort in responding to emergencies.” Abe said. “We will also work together with local municipalities, and become united as a government to ensure safety and respond to disasters the best we can.”
Tokyo Electric Co. said it has resumed the cooling system at a storage pool for spent nuclear fuel at the No.3 reactor at the Fukushima-Daini nuclear power plant that had been automatically halted earlier after the earthquake hit.
The earthquake, which was felt in Tokyo, had a preliminary magnitude of 7.3 and was centred off the coast of Fukushima prefecture at a depth of about 10 km (6 miles), the agency said.
A tsunami of up to 1 metre (3 feet) had been observed around Fukushima following the quake which struck at 5:59 a.m. (2059 GMT Monday), public broadcaster NHK said, after warning of waves of up to 3 metres (10 feet) has been issued.
Earthquakes are common in Japan, one of the world’s most seismically active areas. Japan accounts for about 20 percent of the world’s earthquakes of magnitude 6 or greater.
The March 11, 2011, quake was magnitude 9, the strongest quake in Japan on record. The massive tsunami it triggered caused world’s worst nuclear crisis since Chernobyl a quarter of a century earlier.
The U.S. Geological Survey measured Tuesday’s quake at magnitude 6.9, down from an initial 7.3.