A Scare, Then Relief After Powerful Japan Quake and Tsunami

TOKYO— At first, it was 2011 all over again.“It really came back. And it was so awful. The sways to the side were huge,” Kazuhiro Onuki said after northeastern Japan was jolted Tuesday by a magnitude-7.4 earthquake, the strongest since a devastating ...

Firefighters and city officials check the water level at an estuary following a tsunami warning in Iwaki, Fukushima prefecture, early Tuesday, Nov. 22, 2016. Coastal residents in Japan were ordered to flee to higher ground on Tuesday after a strong earthquake struck off the coast of Fukushima prefecture. Kyodo News via AP

TOKYO—At first, it was 2011 all over again.

“It really came back. And it was so awful. The sways to the side were huge,” Kazuhiro Onuki said after northeastern Japan was jolted Tuesday by a magnitude-7.4 earthquake, the strongest since a devastating quake and tsunami five years ago.

“But nothing fell from the shelves,” Onuki, 68, said in a phone interview, his voice calm and quiet.

Coastal residents returned home from higher ground, and fishing boats to port, after tsunami warnings were lifted along Japan’s Pacific coast. The earthquake gave Tokyo — 240 kilometers (150 miles) away — a good shake, but was much less powerful than the magnitude-9.0 quake in 2011, and only moderate tsunami waves reached shore.

In this image from a video released by Miyagi Prefectural Police, the water flows up river in the Sunaoshi River, Tagajo, Miyagi prefecture, northern Japan, as a tsunami warning is issued following a strong earthquake, Nov. 22, 2016. Miyagi Prefectural Police/Kyodo News via AP