Tsunami hits Japan after 7.3 magnitude quake

A strong earthquake measuring 7.3 on the Richter scale today jolted Japan's north-eastern coast triggering a small tsunami. This area was devastated four months ago.

There were no reports of injuries or damage. The quake registered 4 on the Japanese seismic intensity scale of 7 in 11 municipalities in Iwate, Miyagi and Fukushima prefectures including Morioka in Iwate.

The quake triggered a small tsunami in Iwate prefecture, measuring 10 cm. The JMA, after the quake, forecast the height of the tsunami could reach half a meter.

Tremors from quake were felt in Tokyo too.

Workers at the Fukushima nuclear power plant were evacuated after a tsunami alert was issued, and residents were warned to head for high ground.

Japan's northeastern coastline was devastated by an earthquake and tsunami on March 11 that left nearly 23,000 dead or missing and touched off a nuclear crisis at the nuclear power facility in Fukushima.

The tsunami knocked out cooling systems that kept the three operating reactors from overheating, leading to the worst nuclear accident since Chernobyl.

"It's just a continuing of the aftershocks of that devastating 9.0," said Dale Grant, a geophysicist with the USGS, referring to the March 11 quake. "These kinds of aftershocks are likely to occur for some time," Grant said.