Exactly one month after the first devastating earthquake and tsunami, another powerful earthquake has hit north-east Japan measuring 7.1 in magnitude.

The BBC reported that the tremor triggered a brief tsunami warning which forced workers to evacuate the already crippled Fukushima nuclear plant.

The epicentre of the quake was in Fukushima prefecture and struck shortly after the country stopped for a minute’s silence to remember the nearly 28,000 dead or missing in the 11th March disaster.

The official death toll from the disaster is 13,127, while 14,348 remain unaccounted for. Over 150,000 people have been made homeless from the devastation.

The Japanese government has just raised the overall severity of the nuclear disaster to level 7, however they are quick to stress that this is in response to the whole disaster and not a sudden increase in any nuclear leakage or threat to human life.