Powerful Japan quake kills four

Photo taken on March 17, 2022 shows a damaged house after an earthquake at Kunimi-machi, Fukushima Prefecture, Japan. A 7.3-magnitude earthquake hit northeastern Japan on late Wednesday night.  

Four people were reported dead and more than 100 injured in Japan on Thursday after a powerful overnight earthquake rattled large parts of the east coast and prompted a tsunami warning, authorities said.

The 7.4-magnitude quake off the coast of Fukushima derailed a bullet train, opened cracks in highways and threw products from shelves in shops.

A tsunami warning for waves of up to a meter in parts of northeast Japan was lifted on early Thursday, after authorities recorded water levels up to 30 centimeters higher than usual in some areas.

Multiple smaller jolts continued to hit the region into Thursday morning, straining nerves just days after Japan marked the 11th anniversary of the massive quake, tsunami and nuclear disaster in the area.

Damage appeared comparatively minor, in a country with tough building codes intended to protect against devastation from frequent earthquakes, and officials said there were no abnormalities at nuclear plants.

Government spokesperson Hirokazu Matsuno said four deaths had been reported, though investigations were still under way into whether they were a direct result of the quake. Another 107 people were injured, he added.

"We've received reports that there are no data irregularities in the Fukushima Daiichi and Daini nuclear plants and the Onagawa nuclear plant," Matsuno said, referring to the facility crippled in 2011 and two others in the region.

The quake struck at a depth of 60 kilometers at 11:36 pm Wednesday and was preceded minutes earlier by a 6.1-­magnitude shake in the same area, Japan's Meteorological Agency said.

The jolts also rattled the capital and temporarily plunged parts of Tokyo and other areas into darkness.

Blackouts hit around 2 million homes in Tokyo and elsewhere in the immediate aftermath of the quake, but power was progressively restored throughout the night. Some 30,000 homes were still without power on Thursday morning, with another 4,300 without water.

Elsewhere, some damage was reported, including the collapse of a stone wall at the site of Aoba castle in Sendai, and a Shinkansen bullet train derailed north of Fukushima city.

There were no injuries in the derailment, but 75 passengers and three staff on board were trapped for four hours before being able to escape the train.