Earthquake jolts eastern Japan, no tsunami warning - NHK (updated)

East Japan Railway

26/05/2023 11:11

(Adds details on airports, railways checking for damage)
       TOKYO, May 26 (Reuters) - A strong earthquake shook
eastern Japan on Friday evening, but there was no tsunami
warning, according to public broadcaster NHK. 
        The temblor struck at 1003 GMT with a magnitude of 6.2,
according to the Japan Meteorological Agency. It shook buildings
in Tokyo as well as surrounding prefectures, but there were no
immediate reports of major damage.
  
        The epicentre was near Chiba prefecture, to the east of
Tokyo, at a depth of 50 km (31 miles).
  
        Footage from NHK showed buildings shaking near the
Narita International Airport in Chiba. Airport authorities were
checking for damage to its runways, NHK said.  
    East Japan Railway Co  9020.T  said it was suspending some
train services in Chiba prefecture.
        Earthquakes are common in Japan, one of the world's most
seismically active areas. Japan accounts for about one-fifth of
the world's earthquakes of magnitude 6 or greater.
  
        On March 11, 2011, the northeast coast was struck by a
magnitude 9 earthquake, the strongest quake in Japan on record,
and a massive tsunami. Those events triggered the world's worst
nuclear crisis since Chernobyl a quarter of a century earlier.
  
        NHK said that Tokyo Electric Power Co  9501.T  was
checking for signs of damage at its nuclear reactors in
Fukushima, the site of a meltdown in the 2011 disaster.

 (Reporting by Rocky Swift, Mariko Katsumura, Anton Bridge,
editing by David Dolan and Kim Coghill)
 ((rocky.swift@thomsonreuters.com;))