Strong quake forces crippled nuke plant to evacuate employees

Employees of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant have been ordered to evacuate the premises after a 6.3 magnitude earthquake hit the region on Tuesday morning, Kyodo news agency reported.

Tuesday morning’s earthquake hit the already devastated northeastern Japanese prefecture of Fukushima and was felt in the country’s capital of Tokyo. No tsunami warning has been released, however, according to Kyodo, several small tidal waves may ensue.

According to the U.S. Geological Survey, earthquakes have been recorded at 2:07 p.m. local time (05:07 a.m. GMT) at a depth of 10 kilometers, some 29 km (18 miles) from the city of Iwaki.

Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant was seriously damaged by a powerful earthquake and tsunami that hit Japan on March 11, leaving more than 27,000 people dead or missing. Fukushima’s operator has since been struggling to stop radioactive leaks from the plant’s crippled reactors.

MOSCOW, April 12 (RIA Novosti) 

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