An earthquake of magnitude 5.5 on the Richter scale jolted eastern Japan at around 10:04 am today. The quake that lasted for 30 seconds, had its epicentre at Moriya at a depth of 59 km. Buildings in the capital Tokyo shook up while Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant felt the tremors. There were no immediate report of any loss of life or damage to property. No tsunami alerts were issued either.
High-speed Shinkansen Bullet trains were stopped for a short while for a track check, but quickly restored to normal operation.
A strong tsunami owing to a 9.0 magnitude sub-sea earthquake had killed more than 18000 people in northeast Japan and damaged cooling systems at the Fukushima nuclear plant by sending reactors into meltdown in March 2011.
