Powerful earthquake hits northeastern Japan

Coastal residents fled to higher ground as a powerful earthquake sent a series of moderate tsunamis toward Japan’s northeastern shore Tuesday and fueled concerns about the Fukushima nuclear power plant destroyed by a much larger tsunami five years ago.

Lines of cars snaked away from the coast in the pre-dawn hours after authorities issued a tsunami warning and urged residents to seek higher ground immediately. The warning was lifted nearly four hours later.

The magnitude 7.4 earthquake struck in the same region that was devastated by a tsunami that followed a much larger magnitude 9.0 quake in 2011, killing some 18,000 people. The U.S. Geological Survey measured Tuesday’s quake at 6.9. (AP)

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