Another quake has rocked Japan. A magnitude-5.3 earthquake hit the Japanese prefecture in Fukushima on Friday, where the nuclear power plant that was damaged in a March 2011 earthquake and tsunami sits.
According to the U.S. Geological Survey, the earthquake struck early Friday about 13 miles under Fukushima Prefecture and about 110 miles northeast of Tokyo. No tsunami alert was issued by the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center, the Associated Press reports.
The quake, which was first measured as a 5.8, was felt over a wide area of northern Japan and even reached as far as Tokyo is the south.
Despite the quake striking close to the nuclear plant, the Japanese news agency Kyodo News reported that the plant's operator, Tokyo Electric Power Co., did not find any abnormal radiation levels or equipment damage after the quake.
TEPCO was ordered to scrap all six reactors at the Fukushima Dai-ichi plant by Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Thursday. He told them to focus on bigger issues like eaks of radioactive water.
During the 2011 earthquake and tsunami, three reactors melted and a fuel coolingpool was damaged. Officials have noticed that radiation-contaminated groundwater has been seeping into the Pacific Ocean since soon after the destructive earthquake.
Fukushima lies on the "Ring of Fire," which is an arc of earthquake and volcanic zones that stretches around the Pacific Rim. It is highly active and 90 percent of the world's earthquakes occur in this region.
This article is copyrighted by Travelers Today, the travel news leader
