TOKYO — A powerful earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 6.3 rocked Fukushima and Ibaraki prefectures in northeastern and eastern Japan early Tuesday afternoon, the Japan Meteorological Agency said.
The latest temblor came after an earthquake with a magnitude of 6.4 jolted Chiba Prefecture, just east of Tokyo, and its vicinity, while a magnitude 5.6 quake rocked Nagano Prefecture in central Japan and its surrounding areas, both Tuesday morning.
The 2:07 p.m. quake measured lower 6 on the Japanese seismic scale of 7 in Fukushima and northern Ibaraki, with its epicenter in the Hamadori area of Fukushima. It also caused a power outage in 6,000 Fukushima households.
The agency said slight tidal wave changes may be observed but added that no damage is feared.
While workers at the crisis-hit Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant temporarily evacuated, there was no disruption to the pumps injecting water into the Nos. 1 to 3 reactors or the electrical power source of the six-reactor complex, TEPCO said.
A series of apparent aftershocks of last month’s magnitude 9.0 quake, including a magnitude 7.0 temblor Monday, are hampering work to restore the plant, which is already in a fragile state as many reactor units require water to be injected or poured from outside to prevent nuclear fuel in the reactors and spent fuel pools from overheating.
The latest quake did not affect the Fukushima Daini nuclear power plant, located near the Daiichi plant, TEPCO said.
