Dozens injured in strong quake off Fukushima

TOKYO: A 7.3-magnitude earthquake off Fukushima in eastern Japan injured more than 100 people, authorities said on Sunday, nearly a decade after the region suffered a devastating quake, tsunami and nuclear meltdown.

No casualties have been reported after the late-night quake in the Pacific, which did not trigger a tsunami, and no abnormalities were observed at the stricken Fukushima nuclear plant.

But residents preparing to mark the 10th anniversary of the triple disaster said they were frightened by Saturday’s jolt -- which the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) said was considered an aftershock of the massive tremor on March 11, 2011.

"I was at home... the shaking was so strong I became truly afraid for my physical safety," Masami Nakai, a municipal official in Soma city in northern Fukushima, told AFP.