Workers of Japan’s Fukushima plant evacuates following tsunami alert

(MENAFN) Workers at Japan’s troubled Fukushima nuclear facility were evacuated on Wednesday after tsunami warnings were issued nationwide.

According to the plant’s operator, all 4,000 personnel were safely removed from the site, and no “abnormalities” were detected following the warning.

The evacuation followed an 8.7-magnitude earthquake that struck off the far eastern coast of Russia, prompting widespread alerts across the Pacific region.

For residents of Fukushima Prefecture, the warnings likely stirred painful memories of the 2011 catastrophe, when a 9.0-magnitude quake and the subsequent tsunami devastated parts of Japan. That disaster claimed over 18,000 lives and led to one of the most severe nuclear crises in history.

At the time, the tsunami overwhelmed the Fukushima plant, disabling emergency generators and triggering a meltdown of the reactor cores.

More than 14 years on, hundreds of tons of highly radioactive material still remain on-site. The ongoing cleanup continues to face technical challenges and public scrutiny.

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