Severity of Japan nuclear emergency 'equal to Chernobyl'

The Japanese government nuclear safety agency has raised the crisis level at the Fukushima Daiichi plant from five to seven - putting it on a par with the Chernobyl disaster.

The Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency said the damaged plant has released a dangerous amount of radioactive substances - although less than the after the 1986 meltdown at Chernobyl - hundreds of thousands of terabecquerels of radioactive iodine-131 were released into the air.

The International Nuclear and Radiological Event Scale indicates the severity of a nuclear accident from one to seven - with Chenobyl previously being the only incident to be rated level 7.

Meanwhile, a fire that broke out at the Fukushima Daichi plant this morning has been extinguished, following a large aftershock off the coast of Japan's Honshu island.

The earthquake, a magnitude 6.3 according to the United States Geological Survey, struck at 8.08am Japan time (11.08am NZT) and was centred 77km south-east of Tokyo, at a depth of 13.1km.

Neither the Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre or the Japan Meteorological Agency issued a tsunami advisory.

Kyodo News reported the Joetsu, Nagano, Tohoku and Takaido shinkansen (bullet train) lines were closed following the quake, but have since resumed. The runways at the Narita airport have also been reopened after being closed for checks in the wake of the quake.

- NZHERALD STAFF, with AGENCIES

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