A powerful 7.5 magnitude earthquake struck northeastern and northern Japan, prompting a tsunami warning for the Pacific coasts of Hokkaido, Aomori, and Iwate prefectures. Tsunami waves of up to 3 meters were forecast, and residents were urged to evacuate to higher ground. No abnormalities were reported at nuclear plants.
The Japanese police, dressed in protective gear, on Thursday began searching for some 2,500 people missing within a 10-20 kilometre radius of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power station, which was crippled by the March 11 killer earthquake and tsunami.
'The lessons learnt from the triple disaster have put Japan's energy future On the right path,' notes Dr Rajaram Panda.