Heavy earthquake of about 6.9-magnitude strikes off Japan


A 6.9-magnitude earthquake struck off Japan's Honshu island on Tuesday, triggering tsunami waves and bringing back traumatic memories for locals of the devastating 2011 Fukushima disaster.
Residents in Fukushima Prefecture braced for the worst after a tsunami warning was issued early Tuesday morning -- along the same stretch of coast devastated by enormous waves five years ago.
In 2011, a 9.0-magnitude earthquake -- one of the worst ever to hit Japan -- killed more than 20,000 people and caused tsunamis of up to 12 meters (40 feet) which swamped the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, triggering a nuclear meltdown.
Tuesday's quake struck close to the epicenter of the 2011 quake, just 37 kilometers (23 miles) east-southeast of Namie at a depth of 11.4 kilometers (7 miles).
The quake triggered a tsunami warning in Japan's Fukushima and Miyagi Prefectures, causing the government to urge thousands to seek higher ground amid warnings waves could be up to 3 meters high (10 feet).
Speaking to Japanese public broadcaster NHK, residents from the Fukushima and Ibaraki prefectures said they had immediately feared the worst when they felt the earthquake strike.
"I felt a strong shaking, but it was weaker than the earthquake in 2011," a Fukushima prefecture man told NHK. "I thought something terrible might happen, so I tried to escape to higher ground right away."

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