Tsunami warnings lifted in Japan

Tsunami warnings have been lifted in Fukushima and the surrounding coastal region after a 7.1 magnitudeearthquake struck 320km off the coast of Japan.

Tremors could be felt some 480 kilometres away in Tokyo.

A predicted one-metre high wave measured just 30cm when it hit land.

The quake struck at 2.10 am local time and many workers at the Fukushima nuclear power plant were evacuated to higher ground, though there were no immediate reports of damage or a change in radiation readings.

The plant’s nuclear reactors were damaged when an earthquake and tsunami with 40 metre high waves struck in 2011.

The disaster led Japan to close all but two of its 50 reactors and the company responsible for the plant is still battling to contain the damage. -euronews

Meanwhile,

Malaysian Meteorological Dept says JMA did not issue tsunami warning in Borneo as claimed

KUALA LUMPUR: The Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) had never issued a warning of an imminent tsunami within the next 36 hours in the Borneo, as reported in the social media.

According to a spokesman from the National Tsunami Early Warning Centre of the Malaysian Meteorological Department, the agency did not issue such a warning or detect any earthquake in the region.

 

"We had checked with JMA and they did not issue such a warning whether on tsunami or earthquake," he told Bernama tonight.

 

The spokesman however, did not rule out the possibility of strong winds and heavy rain in Sabah.

 

Meanwhile, Sabah Meteorological Department director Abdul Malek Tussin said the department had also not issued any warnings of a tsunami.

 

"I do not understand how such a report has come out," he said.

 

The social media was abuzz with news that there would be a tsunami in Borneo within the next 36 hours, causing panic among people living in Borneo, especially Sabah.

 

The Facebook posting was still around when Bernama carried out a check on the internet.  -- BERNAMA