At least 110 people were injured, mostly by falling objects, with two in serious condition, said a Shizuoka prefecture official. A nuclear power plant went into automatic shut down but no incidents were reported.
In an address on Japanese public broadcaster NHK, Shizuoka governor Huita Kawakatsu urged the public to “remain level-headed and gather correct information we provide through TV programmes.”
Panic-stricken islanders fled their homes, fearing a repeat of the enormous Asian tsunami that devastated the Andamans in 2004 and killed around 220,000 people in the region as whole. But a tsunami alert issued for India, Myanmar, Indonesia, Thailand and Bangladesh was later cancelled by the Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre of the US National Weather Service. “Sea level readings indicate that a significant tsunami was not generated,” it said.
The police control centre in Port Blair, the main town of the Andamans, said there were no immediate reports of any major damage or casualties.
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