Strong earthquake jolts northeast Japan

Tokyo : A strong 7.4 magnitude earthquake struck northeast Japan late on Thursday, spurring widespread panic in a nation that is limping back to normalcy after last month?s massive quake, tsunami and subsequent nuclear crisis.

There were no immediate reports of damage from the quake, which struck 40 kilometres under the water off the coast of Miyagi prefecture at about 11:32 pm local time, however buildings as far as Tokyo are said to have shook for about a minute.

The Japan Meteorological Agency withdrew its tsunami warnings, issued for four prefectures (Japanese districts). Officials also said that the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant wasn?t further damaged and workers at the site were evacuated.

Japan is already reeling from the 9.0 earthquake, the biggest in the quake-prone country?s recorded history, that struck on Mar 11 triggering a 10-metre high tsunami and a major nuclear crisis, causing millions of dollars in damages and leaving about 28,000 people dead or missing.