Tens of thousands of homes in Japan remained without power on Thursday after a magnitude 7.4 earthquake struck shortly before midnight, throwing a swathe of northeastern Japan into darkness, severing key transportation links and killing at least four people.
The temblor revived memories of Japan’s biggest quake, of magnitude 9.1, which struck on March 11, 2011 in the same area and which includes Fukushima prefecture and a nuclear power plant crippled by a tsunami and meltdown. It left a Shinkansen bullet train service indefinitely suspended, and at least one major highway to the region closed for safety checks.
