A major 7.8 magnitude earthquake struck off the Fiji coast on Friday, but no tsunami threat was issued.
The quake struck 123 km east south east of Suva, Fiji, the US Geological Survey said.
The epicentre of the tremor was 63 miles (102km) southeast of the capital Suva.
It was downgraded from an initial reading of 8.1 by the USGS.
The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said there was no tsunami threat because the quake was too deep. It hit 378 miles (609km) underground.
The center said no destructive Pacific-wide tsunami was expected, and there was no tsunami threat to Hawaii.
A powerful earthquake rocked Hokkaido, Japan in the early hours on Thursday, triggering landslides, destroying roads and buildings and left the northern island's 5.3 million residents without power.
The 6.7-magnitude quake struck at 3:09 a.m. local time at a depth of 40 kilometers (24 miles), according to the Associated Press.
Meteorological agency officials told the public broadcaster NHK that the earthquake reached the maximum level on Japan's seismic intensity scale.
"We punched in seismic data from new locations to analyze today's earthquake. In the town of Atsuma, the earthquake measured 7 on the Japanese seismic intensity scale," Toshiyuki Matsumori of the Japan Meteorological Agency said.
Five people are confirmed dead and another four people do not have vital signs. About 300 are injured and about 30 more are missing, NHK reported.
Video footage of the temblor's destructiveness shows collapsed buildings, buckled roads, landslides that exposed entire hillsides in the hard-hit town of Atsuma and vehicles submerged in mud. The quake also grounded flights and halted train and bus services.
Power has been restored for about 330,000 buildings but Economy, Trade and Industry Minister Hiroshige Seko told NHK, "It will take more than a week to fully restore the power supply in Hokkaido."
The earthquake comes just days after Typhoon Jebi, the strongest typhoon in 25 years, hit Japan on Tuesday that caused widespread flooding, pushed an oil tanker into a major bridge, forced Kansai International Airport to close and stranding 3,000 travelers and killed at least 11 people, according to NHK.
The country also suffered from a summer of record-breaking heat that sent 70,000 people to hospitals and left 80 people dead, and historic flooding and mudslides that killed hundreds of people.
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe expressed condolences to victims of the earthquake. He has dispatched up to 25,000 troops and other personnel to help with rescue efforts.
A 7.0-magnitude quake hit Japan’s northern island of Hokkaido early today (Sept. 6), leaving at least four dead and dozens injured or missing by the latest count.
The quake also left the entire island and its population of 5.3 million people without electricity, after Hokkaido Electric Power said the quake shut down the island’s largest thermal power plant. In the meantime, the hydropower plants in operation are being used to restore power to the thermal power plants, but are unable to provide electricity to homes and companies. Japan’s trade minister, however, said it could take a week (link in Japanese) for power to be restored at the major Tomato-Atsuma thermal power plant.
The quake also left Hokkaido’s main airport, New Chitose Airport in the city of Sapporo, closed for the day due to extensive damage, exacerbating travel disruptions in Japan after Kansai International Airport in Osaka was battered by Typhoon Jebi earlier this week. Local public transport has also been suspended, including the bullet train connecting Hakodate in Hokkaido to Aomori on the main island of Honshu. Hokkaido is a popular tourist spot, known for its lakes, mountains, and farms, and is famous for its dairy produce and seafood.
A nuclear power station in Hokkaido is relying on emergency backup power after a powerful earthquake knocked out electricity on the northern island Thursday, offering a stark reminder of the 2011 Fukushima disaster.
The three-reactor Tomari nuclear plant, operated by Hokkaido Electric Power Co. and in shutdown since the aftermath of the Fukushima disaster, lost power after a magnitude 6.7 quake hit the island in the early hours, the government said.
The plant’s fuel rods are being cooled with emergency power supplied by diesel generators, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga told reporters Thursday.
There were no radiation irregularities at the plant, Suga said, citing the operator. The atomic regulator said the diesel generators have enough fuel to last seven days.
Hokkaido Electric has shut down all fossil fuel plants, cutting power to all its nearly 3 million customers, a spokesman said.
A moderate earthquake magnitude 5.5 (ml/mb) has struck on Thursday, 194 km E of Suva, Fiji (121 miles). Exact location of earthquake, longitude -179.7202 West, latitude -18.1645 South, depth = 643.65 km. The earthquake was roughly at a depth of 643.65 km (400 miles). A tsunami warning has not been issued (Does not indicate if a tsunami actually did or will exist). Event id: us2000h9j1. Ids that are associated to the earthquake: us2000h9j1. The temblor was detected at 04:31:33 / 4:31 am (local time epicenter). Exact time and date of event in UTC/GMT: 06/09/18 / 2018-09-06 16:31:33 / September 6, 2018 @ 4:31 pm.
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