The Japan Meteorological Agency e꧅arly Thursday lifted its low-risk advisory for a tsunami aꦯlong the coasts of Fukushima and Miyagi prefectures. Tsunami waves of 30 centimeters (11 inches) reached shore in Ishinomaki, about 390 kilometers (242 miles) northeast of Tokyo.
The agency upgraded the magnitude of the quake to 7.4 from the initial 7.3, and the depth from 60 kilometers (36 miles) below the sea to 56 kilome🦩ters (35 miles).
NHK footage showed broken walls of a department store building fell to🍨 the ground and shards of windows scattered on the street near the main train station in the inland prefectural capital of Fukushima city. Roads were cracked and water poured out from pipes underground.
Footage also s▨howed furniture and appliances smashed to the floor at apartments in Fukushima. Cosmetics and other merchandise at convenience stores fell from shelves and scattered on the floor. In Yokohama, near Tok🤪yo, an electric pole nearly fell.
The Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings, which operaཧtes the Fukushima Daiichi nuclea🉐r plant where the cooling systems failed after the 2011 disaster, said workers found no abnormalities at the site, which is being decommissioned.
Japan's Nuclear Regulation Authority said a fire alarm went off at the turbine building of No. 5 reactors at the💛 Fukushima Daiichi but there was no actual fire. Water pumps for the spent fuel cooling pool at two of the four reactors at Fukushima Daini briefly stopped, but later resumed operation. Fukushima Daini, which survived the 2011 tsunami, is also set for decommissioning.
More 🧸than 2.2 million homes were temporarily withoꦜut electricity in 14 prefectures, including the Tokyo region, but power was restored at most places by the morning, except for about 37,000 homes in the hardest hit Fukushima and Miyagi prefectures, according to the Tohoku Electric Power Co. which services the region.
Tꦬhe quake shook large parts of eastern Japan, including Tokyo, 𝕴where buildings swayed violently.
East Japan Railway Coꦿ. said mostᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚ𒀱ᩚᩚᩚ of its train services were suspended for safety checks. Some local trains later resumed service.
Many people formed long lines outside of major stations while waiting for trains to resume operation late Wednesday, but trains in Tokyo operated normally Thursday mor꧋ning.
A Tohoku Shinkansen express train partially deraඣiled between Fukushima and Miyagi due to the quake, but nobody was injured, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said.
He told reporters that the governm💙ent was assessin💦g the extent of damage and promised to do its utmost for rescue and relief operations.
“Please first take action to𒁃 save you🥃r life," Kishida tweeted.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno said authorities were scrambling to assess damage. “We are doing our utmost in rescue꧑ operations and putting people's lives first,” he♈ said.
He♔ urged residents in the affected areas to use extra caution for possible major aftershocks for about a week.
