Tsunami alert issued in Japan after quakes
Strongest tremors for nearly a decade leave at least four dead and force 50,000 to flee their homes
AT LEAST four people were killed and more than 50,000 were forced to flee their homes in Japan after a series of powerful earthquakes triggered the country’s first major tsunami warning since the 2011 Fukushima disaster.
Two people were reported to have died by Japanese broadcaster NHK and at least six others were buried alive under rubble in what was the country’s strongest earthquake in nearly a decade.
The largest 7.6-magnitude tremor brought one-metre-high waves crashing on to the western coast of Honshu, the east Asian country’s main island, shortly after 4pm local time (7am GMT).
It was followed by aftershocks and fears of larger tsunamis to come. Warnings were also issued on the eastern coasts of North and South Korea and in Russia’s far east.
The quakes struck Japan on New Year’s Day, its most important public holiday. The country remains haunted by the memory of the 9.0-magnitude Tohoku earthquake in March 2011 which triggered a tsunami that left nearly 20,000 people dead or missing and led to a meltdown at the Fukushima nuclear plant.
South Korea’s Gangwon province, North Korea’s entire east coast and the far-eastern Russian regions of Sakhalin, Khabarovsk and Primorsky also issued tsunami warnings.
The waves that were expected to make landfall in those countries were predicted to be smaller and pose a less significant threat to life than in Japan.
At the tremors’ epicentre on Honshu’s Noto peninsula, buildings were filmed falling down in the city of Suzu and roads were splintered in Wajima, a city 27 miles to the west where at least 30 buildings collapsed.
One elderly man was pronounced dead at the scene of a building collapse in the town of Shika, broadcaster NTV reported local police as saying.
In Kanazawa, the regional capital, video footage showed frightened shoppers watching on as products fell off shelves.
To the north, in the coastal town of Uchinada, tarmac roads lay mangled from the force of the quakes and 90 miles east, in Nagano, tremors shook snow from the roofs of houses.
Temperatures were expected to drop to just above freezing overnight and 36,000 homes lost power.
Fumio Kishida, Japan’s prime minister, has urged authorities to prioritise “human life above all else” and “spare no effort in our emergency disaster responses”.
The initial major tsunami warning, which warns of five-metre waves, was later downgraded to a standard tsunami warning – meaning three-metre waves could occur – and then to a tsunami advisory, which forecasts one-metre waves.
These remain in place for the entire 1,650-mile length of Japan’s western coast, from Kyushu in the south to Wakkanai in the far north of Hokkaido.
Evacuated locals have been urged by authorities not to return as aftershocks and smaller tsunamis are expected to continue for several days.
“There is a very high risk of buildings collapsing and other damages caused by the tremors,” a spokesman for the Japan Meteorological Agency said.
The series of tremors on the Noto peninsula started shortly after 3pm local time (6am GMT).
The strongest of more than 80 quakes that followed was at a magnitude of 7.6 and struck at 4.10pm local time (7.10am GMT), the JMA said.
Flights to the region were cancelled by Nippon Airways and Japan Airlines, and 40 train lines were suspended as passengers filmed their carriages shaking in the tremors.
Shocks triggered by the earthquake were felt in Tokyo, nearly 200 miles away.
Mobile phone and internet services were also disrupted in the Ishikawa and Niigata regions, but all nuclear power plants along the Sea of Japan were unaffected.
Tsunami waves more than one metre high hit the port city of Wajima on the peninsula shortly after and aftershocks and smaller tsunamis have continued ever since.
Prof Kenji Satake, of the University of Tokyo, told national broadcaster NHK that tsunamis in the region “bounce back” off the coastline, meaning the energy within them can take several days to dissipate.
Ishikawa prefecture, the worstaffected region, is a relatively rural part of Japan with a total population of 1.1 million.
Beyond the historic city of Kanazawa, its capital, coastal communities are typically small and rely on fishing and tourism.
New year is the most important public holiday in Japan and most businesses close for the first three days of the year.
Families gather to spend time together, send new year cards and visit Shinto shrines or Buddhist temples.
Sunday’s quake was Japan’s strongest since May 2015, when the 7.8-magnitude Ogasawara earthquake struck more than 500 miles south of the mainland. There are hundreds of earthquakes in the country every year and most cause no or little damage.