An earthquake measuring 7.4 on the Richter scale has rocked Japan. The epicentre of the quake is of Japan's northeastern coast, and 40 kilometers under-water. The Japan meteorological agency has issued a tsunami warning for a wave of up to one meter. CNBC's Charles Haddock shares details on the tragedy.
Below is a verbatim transcript of Charles Haddocks report. Also watch the accompanying video.
Tokoyo was rattled by the earthquake even though it was some 200 miles away. The epicenter of this 7.4 earthquake was about 70 miles from Fukoshima and the local Tsunami warning has been issued for the area. Now, the area around Fukoshima was build to withstand a 25 foot surge of water. The problem was that the 9.0 earthquake that hit about 4 weeks ago was a 45 foot wave. Therefore, it should be able to withstand the wave. They were just about ready to make some progress in cleaning up and getting the cooling system back in order at the Fukoshima plant. It is know yet what this earthquake has done to that effort.
TEPCO has certainly taken a beating, but no company or country has been through something like this an earthquake of a magnitude of 9.0, tsunami and then a nuclear leak in three to four reactors. They are doing the best they can. They have had some missteps along the way. However, in this week they were making progress. They were able to stop that leak of radioactive water into the Pacific Ocean. They were injecting nitrogen gas into the containment buildings to try to stabilize the atmosphere for the reactors. They still have a lot of water pooling around the reactors and the buildings. They have to get rid of that before they can get in and really repair the infrastructure of the reactor units, try to stabilize them before they can permanently shut them down for good.
It is too early know about casualties from their fresh earthquake. Earlier in the day, they had made a significant effort to try to enter the 12 mile radius around the nuclear plant to try to find more victims from the massive tsunami that swept the region. They wanted to be able to get the bodies out of there before they deteriorated too much and try to bring some condolence to the families of the victims there. That effort obviously has been suspended for the night. We dont know what the earthquake has done to the infrastructure around Fukoshima. Are the roads wiped out? Are the railroads still in a mess? Its night time and information from that region has been hard to get in the best of times. Its certainly not coming forth tonight.
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