Following a large earthquake at 08:18 UTC today off the east coast of Japan, the IAEA's Incident and Emergency Centre (IEC) has been in contact with the officially designated contact point in Japan, Japan's Nuclear Regulation Authority (NRA), to collect information about the status of Japanese nuclear power plants that could be affected.

The NRA officially reported to the IEC that the earthquake was a 7.3 magnitude event that initiated a 1.0-meter rise in sea level at some points. Nuclear power plants in the region nearest to the epicentre of the earthquake have reported to the NRA that they have detected no trouble, and that no emergency measures have been activated. The NRA's report, which was made through the Unified System for Information Exchange in Incidents and Emergencies (USIE), has been distributed to all official contact points in Member States and International Organizations.

As part of its standard procedures following a large earthquake, the IEC has sent Japan an offer of the IAEA's good offices, making the Agency available to provide assistance upon Japanese request.

The IEC remains in its normal/ready mode.

During a media briefing on a separate issue at 10:00 UTC, the IAEA informed the media of the earthquake and the actions taken by the IAEA.