Tokyo — A powerful earthquake rocked northern Japan early on Tuesday, briefly disrupting cooling functions at a nuclear plant and generating a small tsunami that hit the same Fukushima region devastated by a 2011 quake, tsunami and nuclear disaster. The magnitude 7.4 earthquake, which was felt in Tokyo, sent thousands of residents fleeing for higher ground as dawn broke along the northeastern coast. There were no reports of deaths or serious injuries several hours after the quake hit at 8.59pm GMT on Monday. It was centred off the coast of Fukushima prefecture at a depth of about 10km, the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) said. A wave of up to 1.4m high was recorded at Sendai, about 70km north of Fukushima, with smaller waves hitting ports elsewhere along the coast, public broadcaster NHK said. Television footage showed ships moving out to sea from harbours as tsunami warnings wailed after alerts of waves of up to 3m were issued. "We saw high waves but nothing that went over the ti...
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