MOSCOW, (Sputnik) — An earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 5.0 hit the western Japanese island of Shikoku on Friday, but no tsunami warning was issued and there were no immediate reports of any damage to the nearby Ikata nuclear power plant, Reuters reports, citing representatives of the station’s operator, the Shikoku Electric Power Company.
The temblor was centered in Tokushima prefecture at the depth of 10 km (6.2 miles) and sent shock ways across 15 prefectures.
In 2011 a 9.0 magnitude earthquake hit off the east coast of Japan triggering a 14-meter tsunami that battered the country’s shoreline killing hundreds and causing serious damage to the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.
The disaster permanently damaged several reactors making them impossible to restart, disabled the reactor cooling systems, leading to releases of radioactivity and triggering a 30 km evacuation zone surrounding the plant.
