Northeast Japan jolted by 6.6 magnitude quake, no tsunami warning issued (updated)

East Japan Railway

01/05/2021 03:05

(Adds refinery shuts down, trains suspended)
    By Kevin Buckland and Aaron Sheldrick
    TOKYO, May 1 (Reuters) - An earthquake with a preliminary
magnitude of 6.6 jolted northeast Japan on Saturday, shaking
buildings in the capital of Tokyo and raising the possibility of
landsides, although no tsunami alert was issued.
    The earthquake struck off the coast of northeastern Miyagi
prefecture at a depth of 60 kilometres (37 miles), the Japan
Meteorological Agency said. It warned about possible landslides.
There were no immediate reports of injuries.
    Buildings shook in Tokyo, the capital, some 400 kilometres
away and public broadcaster NHK showed footage of a building
shaking strongly in the northeastern city of Sendai. 
    At the devastated Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, which was
wrecked by a massive earthquake in northeast Japan a decade ago,
operator Tokyo Electric Power  9501.T  said there were no
issues. Likewise there were no issues at the Fukushima Daini
facility just to the south.
    Nearer to the epicentre, there were no issues at the Onagawa
nuclear station, according to operator Tohoku Electric Power Co
Inc  9506.T .
    Bullet train services throughout northern Japan were
suspended, with no schedule for restarting operations as checks
on passengers and trains were made, an East Japan Railway Co
 9020.T  representative said.
    The coast off northeast Japan has been hit by multiple
earthquakes in recent months, including a magnitude 7.2 quake in
March and a similar sized one in February. The magnitude 9 quake
in 2011 was one of the strongest earthquakes on record.
    Eneos Holdings Inc,  5020.T  Japan's biggest refining
company, said its Sendai refinery, also located close to the
epicentre, automatically shut down as the quake struck.
Engineers were making checks after confirming there were no
injuries, it said.
    The 145,000-bpd refinery had only restarted in April after
being damaged by the February earthquake. That quake knocked out
one fifth of Japan's refining capacity.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL1N2MG0GV

 (Reporting by Aaron Sheldrick and Kevin Buckland; editing by
Stephen Coates, David Dolan and Richard Pullin)
 ((aaron.sheldrick@thomsonreuters.com; 81-80-2677-4134;))