Headlines: Japan Earthquake 12/4/2011 6,4 SR East of Tokyo. 6.4 magnitude earthquake rocked Japan on Tuesday (04/12/2011) morning, following an earthquake with a magnitude approximately equal that shook the northeastern part of the country Monday night.
The latest quake occurred at 08:08 local time (or 06:08 pm GMT), according to data the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) said CNN. Gempat it occurred at a depth of 13 kilometers and was centered about 123 kilometers east of Tokyo.
While the magnitude 6.6 earthquake last night, happened just one month on the anniversary of an earthquake measuring 9.0 that followed the tsunami that destroyed the country.
The quake triggered landslides last night and made a number of people trapped in the city of Iwaki. The quake was centered around 164 kilometers northeast of Tokyo and about 50 kilometers southwest of Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant is still paralyzed, according to the USGS.
The landslide buried three houses in Iwaki. Fukushima Prefecture Police initially reported that four people trapped. However, Iwaki Fire Department later said more than four people trapped, but the exact number is unclear. CNN reported, local authorities are trying to save them. Their condition was not immediately known, police said. The quake did not trigger a tsunami.
Workers at nuclear power plants Fushima Daiichi, which has undergone cooling system failure and leakage of radiation from the earthquake and tsunami on 11 March, was evacuated because of the quake but then returned to continue their efforts to cool the troubled facility. Meanwhile, Prime Minister Naoto Kan postpone a scheduled press conference due to the quake. Office of the Prime Minister said the government wanted to deal with emergencies related to gempat it before a press conference.
Japan has experienced hundreds of aftershocks since the earthquake and tsunami on March 11 that killed at least 13,116 people and leaving more than 14,000 still missing.
