A tsunami warning has been issued for eastern Japan’s Fukushima and Miyagi prefectures following an earthquake with a preliminary epicenter depth of 60 kilometers (37 miles), according to the Japan Meteorological Agency.
The advisory alert warns of tsunami heights reaching up to 1 meter above normal tide levels, with initial waves reaching land around midnight local time (1100 AM ET).
Tremors were felt in Miyagi and the capital city of Tokyo, with shaking lights and buildings visible in the footage. The quake has cut power to more than 2 million households in Tokyo and nearby prefectures, Tokyo Electric Power reports on its website.
According to the US Pacific Tsunami Warning Center, there is currently no expected tsunami across the entire Pacific Basin.
One of Fukushima’s nuclear power plants is being tested, the other was unharmed, Hirokazu Matsuno, Secretary General of the Cabinet of Ministers, said at a press conference.
The Japanese government said departments “will work together to make every effort to respond” to the earthquake, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s office said on Twitter.
The epicenter of Wednesday’s quake was 55 miles (89 km) from the epicenter of the devastating 2011 earthquake, which triggered a tsunami with 30-foot waves that damaged several nuclear reactors in the area. More than 22,000 people died or went missing as a result of this disaster. The deaths were caused by the initial earthquake and tsunami, as well as health conditions after the disaster.
The 2011 Japan earthquake was a magnitude 9.1, about 63 times stronger, and released about 500 times more energy than Wednesday’s quake.