Powerful Earthquake Shakes Fukushima at 10 Years After the Nuclear Disaster

Powerful Earthquake Shakes Fukushima at 10 Years After the Nuclear Disaster
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The city of Fukushima from Japan is once again the centre of a scourge, at 10 years after the well-known nuclear disaster. Japan accounts for about 20 percent of earthquakes around the world that reach a minimum magnitude of 6.0. This happens because the Asian country is part of the Pacific Ring of Fire, meaning the most active earthquake belt on the planet.

An earthquake occurring Saturday evening at 11:07 p.m. local time (9.07 a.m. ET) shook the coast of Eastern Japan, leaving at least 12 people injured, according to CNN.

Magnitude of 7.1

The epicentre of the earthquake was located 45.9 miles (73.9 kilometres) northeast of Namie, meaning a coastal town 60 miles from Fukushima. There’s also a good part, as no tsunami warning was issued. Furthermore, Japan’s chief cabinet secretary, Katsunobu Kato, reveals that no abnormalities were reported at the Fukushima nuclear power plant.

YouTube video

Will history repeat itself? On March 11, 2011, another powerful earthquake of 9.0-magnitude hit Japan, and the outcome was terrifying: over 20,000 people died or were lost. Furthermore, hundreds of thousands of other Japanese citizens lost their homes. Let’s just hope that things will not become worst regarding the recent earthquake.

But as a bad thing never comes alone, the 2011 earthquake from Fukushima was the cause of the worst nuclear disaster in Japan’s history. We’re talking about the most severe nuclear disaster since Chernobyl in 1986. The Fukushima accident was classified as Level 7 within the International Nuclear Event Scale, although it was initially classified as Level 5. What happened is that while detecting the earthquake, the active reactors shut down their fusion reactions that were generating power. The reactors’ electricity supplies failed as a result of shutdowns and other problems regarding electrical grid supply. Furthermore, the emergency diesel generators of the reactors automatically started.


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Anna is an avid blogger with an educational background in medicine and mental health. She is a generalist with many other interests including nutrition, women's health, astronomy and photography. In her free time from work and writing, Anna enjoys nature walks, reading, and listening to jazz and classical music.

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