A powerful earthquake off the Japanese coast sent residents fleeing to higher ground and triggered worries about the Fukushima nuclear power plant destroyed by a tsunami five years ago.

A GENERAL Electric Co engineer said he resigned 35 years ago over concern about the safety of a nuclear reactor design used in the crippled Fukushima Dai-ichi plant in Japan.

The second hydrogen explosion in three days rocked Japan’s stricken Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant today, sending a massive column of smoke into the air and wounding six workers.