TOKYO, Reuters – On Wednesday, a powerful earthquake of magnitude 7.3 struck Japan’s northeast coast, shaking buildings all over the country, including Tokyo, where hundreds of thousands were without power. It also brought back memories from a terrible earthquake 11 years ago.

According to the Japan Meteorological Agency, (JMA), the tremor occurred off Fukushima Prefecture’s coast, about 275 km (170 miles) northeast Tokyo. It was at 60 kilometers deep.

The fire alarm was set off at the Fukushima Daiichi facility’s turbine. Authorities confirmed that it had triggered an emergency response and were currently monitoring the situation. This plant was destroyed by the March 11 tsunami and a magnitude 9 earthquake.

The tsunami warning was issued by authorities for the area of up to 1 metre (3.33 ft). NHK, the public broadcaster reported waves as high as 20 cm (8 in) at some locations.

Fumio Kishida, Prime Minister of Japan, told reporters that his government is evaluating the damage.

Tokyo Electric Power Company stated that approximately 2 million homes were without electricity, 700,000. In the capital, NHK broadcast that the company was looking into the status of Fukushima’s reactors.

Officials from the government said that no damage was reported to those sites or oil refineries along the coast.

Fukushima’s radiation release from its Fukushima nuclear power station was the greatest nuclear crisis in the past quarter century since the blast at Chernobyl, Ukraine.

Residents in Yamagata Prefectures, Fukushima and Miyagi were warned by authorities to be prepared for aftershocks.

Japan sits on the edge of many plates tectonics, and is home to around one fifth of the earthquakes in the world that have magnitude 6.