Nuclear facilities were inspected in Japan on Tuesday as authorities assessed the damage from a 7.5-magnitude earthquake, amid warnings of aftershocks and a potentially larger tremblor in the coming days.
As cleanup operations began, Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi told reporters that an emergency task force was formed to urgently assess damage, according to The Associated Press. “We are putting people’s lives first and doing everything we can,” she said.
At least 34 people were injured by Monday's earthquake, most of them hit by falling objects as buildings rocked on their foundations, officials said.
Since the initial tremblor struck about 30 miles below the sea surface off Japan's northernmost island of Hokkaido, 20 aftershocks have been recorded, including one of magnitude-6.4, according to the Japanese Meteorological Agency (JMA).
Though highly unlikely, a magnitude-8 quake was possible this week, accompanied by a tsunami just east of Tokyo, the JMA said.
After Japan suffered one of its worst natural disasters March 11, 2011, when it was hit by a 9.0-magnitude earthquake, a deadly wall of water slammed through the walls of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, knocking out power supply, including the backup generator, and flooding parts of the facility. Three nuclear reactors melted down, spewing radioactive particles into the air.
Japanese officials found “no abnormalities” at Fukushima, the International Atomic Energy Agency said early Tuesday.
But as inspections were carried out on other nuclear sites, the country's Nuclear Regulation Authority said in a statement that nearly 120 gallons of water spilled from a fuel cooling system at a nuclear fuel processing plant in the city of Aomori near the epicenter of Monday's earthquake.
Nearby, video posted on social media showed plumes of smoke rising from a house in the city, which sits on the northern coast of Japan's main island, Honshu.
The country’s disaster agency said one fire had broken out in Aomori, which was later extinguished.
The JMA also said houses were prone to collapsing in areas where severe shaking occurred.
All tsunami warnings and advisories were also lifted early Tuesday local time after minor waves were recorded hitting the northeastern coast. Officials had earlier issued tsunami warnings of up to 10 feet.
Elsewhere, across the Pacific, no tsunami was expected to hit Alaska, British Columbia, Washington, Oregon and California, according to the U.S. National Tsunami Warning Center.
Japan's fire and disaster management agency also lifted all evacuation warnings Tuesday. Earlier, nearly 114,000 people had been ordered to leave their homes.
The agency said that 23 people were injured, including one seriously, in the Aomori prefecture, nine in Hokkaido, and three in Iwate.
Japan's bullet train services between Fukushima and Aomori had been suspended along with some sections of highways, Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Kihara Minoru told reporters Tuesday, adding that power outages were reported in some areas.
Most suspended train services resumed Tuesday afternoon, Japan Railways East said in a statement on X.
Authorities also deployed fire helicopters to assess any damage across several prefectures, including Aomori, Iwate and Miyagi.
