No initial widespread damage was reported from Kadena AB, Japan, shortly after a magnitude 7.0 earthquake struck in the vicinity, Air Force officials said Friday. The earthquake struck the ocean floor about 50 miles east-southeast of Okinawa at 5:31 a.m. Saturday, local time. An alert was issued for a tsunami of up to three feet. An Air Force spokesman said there were “no reports of any significant damage,” but the event had taken place just 20 minutes earlier and reports “are continuing to come in.”. Kadena is the Air Force’s largest base in the Pacific, hosting F-15s, E-3 AWACS, RC-135 Rivet Joints, KC-135 tankers, and various special mission aircraft, and serves as a transient base for nearly all USAF traffic in the south Asia region.
The Pentagon abruptly relieved Air Force Gen. Timothy D. Haugh, head of the National Security Agency and U.S. Cyber Command, and his NSA civilian deputy, Wendy Noble, on April 3.