Update: Magnitude 7.4 Earthquake Hits Near Japan’s Fukushima

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A magnitude-7.4 earthquake struck northern Japan near Fukushima prefecture late on Wednesday, killing two people and injuring dozens, as well as disrupting power and some factories.

About 2,000 buildings were still without power as of 4:25 p.m. in Japan’s northeastern region, while some factories were forced to suspend production. A total of 161 people were injured, Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno told a news conference Thursday. He revised an earlier death toll of four after concluding two were not caused by the quake.

The quake, which also shook buildings in parts of Tokyo, hit at a depth of 60 kilometers and struck at 11:36 p.m. local time Wednesday, according to the the Japan Meteorological Agency. An initial magnitude reading of 7.3 was later raised to 7.4.lay Video

The affected area was devastated by a 9.0-magnitude earthquake and tsunami in 2011 which left nearly 20,000 dead or missing, and triggered a nuclear crisis. The Fukushima disaster led to the shutdown of all of Japan’s nuclear plants, forcing the country to rely on other sources of energy such as coal and natural gas. The latest quake also triggered a tsunami warning, which was later lifted.

Toyota Motor Corp. and Nissan Motor Co. halted operations at factories in the area. Some equipment was damaged at Denso Corp.’s Fukushima plant, a spokeswoman for the Toyota supplier said. Memory-chip maker Kioxia Holdings Corp. said some systems have been halted at one of its plants and is looking into possible impact on its production.

A Tohoku bullet train has derailed on a stretch of track linking Fukushima and Miyagi prefectures, although there were no injuries, East Japan Railway Co. said. Tokyo Electric Power Co. said around 2 million buildings in its service area lost electricity, although power was restored by the morning.

Nuclear regulators said a fire alarm went off at Fukushima’s Dai-Ichi nuclear plant, although it was later determined there was no fire. Water pumps used to cool spent fuel pools at the Dai-Ni plant were also halted, before coming back online.

The intensity of the shaking was estimated at an upper 6 on Japan’s shindo scale of 7 in parts of Miyagi prefecture, according to JMA. A tsunami of 20 centimeters (8 inches) was recorded in the prefecture and residents of some towns were told to evacuate Thursday night, the broadcaster NHK reported.

–With assistance from Stephen Stapczynski, Lily Nonomiya, Kyung Bok Cho, Ken McCallum, Sophie Jackman, Shoko Oda, Gareth Allan and Yuko Takeo.