Latest News

Strong quake hits near east coast of Honshu

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2011-03-13 07:15

TOKYO - An earthquake measuring 6.3 on the Richter scale on Sunday jolted near the east coast of Honshu, Japan, the US Geological Survey said.

The quake, one of the aftershocks following the 8.8-magnitude quake on Friday, Struck at 07:12 local time (2212:46 GMT on Saturday). The epicenter, with a depth of 14.30 km, was initially determined to be at 37.6620 degrees north latitude and 141.9589 degrees east longitude.

Amid a series of moderate and strong aftershocks struck off the east coast of Honshu since Friday, another reactor in Fukushima has also lost its emergency cooling system, Japan's nuclear power safety agency said on Sunday.

An official of the Japan Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency told a news conference that the emergency cooling system of the No.3 reactor is no longer functioning.

An explosion occurred at the Fukushima No.1 nuclear power plant earlier on Saturday triggered public panic, but the Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano said late Saturday that owner and operator of the nuclear facility, Tokyo Electric Power Co., has confirmed that the steel container housing the reactor is intact.

The number of individuals exposed to radiation from the incident could reach 70 to 160, an official of Japan's nuclear safety agency said.