Strong quake shakes buildings in Tokyo

SENDAI, Miyagi, JAPAN : Vehicles are loaded into a car carrier ship at the Sendai port in Miyagi prefecture on April 16, 2011 as the port resumed to export vehicles abroard. Japans biggest ever quake and the tsunami unleashed shattered supply chains and crippled electricity-generating facilities, including a nuclear power plant at the centre of an ongoing atomic emergency. A component supply crisis has strangled auto production in Japan and enforced a slowdown overseas in the wake of the March 11 disasters. AFP PHOTO / JIJI PRESS

April 16, 2011
TOKYO (AFP) - A strong earthquake of magnitude 5.8 hit central Japan on Saturday morning, the US Geological Survey said Saturday.

The quake, which shook buildings in Tokyo, struck at 11:19 am (0219 GMT), 83 kilometres (52 miles) north of the capital and at a depth of 20 kilometres, the USGS said.

Operator Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) said the tremor did not disrupt the emergency crews who are working around the clock to cool crippled reactors at a nuclear plant hit by a devastating earthquake and tsunami last month.

That earthquake -- the biggest ever recorded in Japan -- struck on March 11, triggering a huge tsunami and leaving 13,591 people dead, with another 14,497 still unaccounted for.

Okuma, Fukushima, JAPAN : This handout picture taken by Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO) on April 14, 2011 and released on April 16, shows the spent fuel pool (blue part at the water surface) in the demolished third reactor building of TEPCOs Fukushima No.1 nuclear power plant at Okuma, Fukushima prefecture. AFP PHOTO / HO / TEPCO - NO MARKETING NO ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS - DISTRIBUTED AS A SERVICE TO CLIENTS

Tens of thousands of people lost their homes, while many others were forced to evacuate after a series of explosions at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant sent radiation spewing into the air.

The radiation leaks have resulted in bans on produce from the affected area and hurt the fishing and farming industries because of public fears over radioactivity in food.

On Friday, Japan's government ordered TEPCO to offer payouts to tens of thousands of people made homeless by the ongoing crisis.

The total cost from collapsed or damaged houses, factories and infrastructure such as roads and bridges is estimated to reach 16-25 trillion yen over the next three fiscal years, according to the Cabinet Office.

There were no immediate reports of any damage or casualties from Saturday's quake, which the Japan Meteorological Agency said had a magnitude of 5.9 and struck at a depth of 70 kilometres underground.