Post by Webster on Jan 1, 2024 12:44:24 GMT -5
The Guardian: Japan orders people to evacuate after 7.6-magnitude quake hits west coast
A powerful earthquake has struck central Japan’s western coastline, triggering waves over a metre high and prompting tsunami alerts and warnings for people to evacuate.
The quake, which is estimated to have been magnitude 7.6, struck the Noto peninsula in Ishikawa prefecture on the main central island of Honshu at about 4.10pm local time (07:10 GMT). It knocked out power to tens of thousands of homes and disrupted flights and rail services. In Wajima city, close to the epicentre, at least six people were reported to have been inside houses that collapsed. A large fire in the city engulfed a row of houses, with people being evacuated in the dark. Local hospitals reported a number of injured people arriving for treatment, though damaged roads were hampering the transport of patients.
The Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) said dozens of quakes of at least magnitude 3.5 hit the region between between 4pm and 7.30pm. The JMA initially issued a major tsunami warning for Ishikawa and lower-level tsunami warnings or advisories for the rest of Honshu, as well as the northernmost of Japan’s main islands, Hokkaido. The warning was downgraded to a regular tsunami several hours later, meaning the waters could still reach up to 3 metres (10 feet).
The US Pacific Tsunami Warning Center, which had warned of possible tsunamis along 190 miles of coast, said about four hours after the 7.6-magnitude quake that the tsunami danger had “largely passed”.
Authorities in Japan were still assessing the extent of the damage and people needed to prepare for more tremors, the Japanese prime minister, Fumio Kishida, said. “Residents need to stay on alert for further possible quakes and I urge people in areas where tsunamis are expected to evacuate as soon as possible,” he said. Buildings shook 190 miles (300km) away in Tokyo.
The NHK broadcaster had issued warnings urging people to evacuate quickly to higher ground and to beware of aftershocks and further tsunamis.
A Tokyo resident visiting her hometown of Takaoka, a city directly south of the worst-affected Noto peninsula, for the new year holiday, said: “We’re not that close to the coast so tsunamis are not a worry but the aftershocks just keep coming and shaking the whole house, it’s terrifying.”
A government spokesperson, Hayashi Yoshimasa, said people should prepare for possible further quakes and that the Japan Self-Defense Forces were being readied for deployment to help with rescue and recovery efforts.
The quake, which is estimated to have been magnitude 7.6, struck the Noto peninsula in Ishikawa prefecture on the main central island of Honshu at about 4.10pm local time (07:10 GMT). It knocked out power to tens of thousands of homes and disrupted flights and rail services. In Wajima city, close to the epicentre, at least six people were reported to have been inside houses that collapsed. A large fire in the city engulfed a row of houses, with people being evacuated in the dark. Local hospitals reported a number of injured people arriving for treatment, though damaged roads were hampering the transport of patients.
The Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) said dozens of quakes of at least magnitude 3.5 hit the region between between 4pm and 7.30pm. The JMA initially issued a major tsunami warning for Ishikawa and lower-level tsunami warnings or advisories for the rest of Honshu, as well as the northernmost of Japan’s main islands, Hokkaido. The warning was downgraded to a regular tsunami several hours later, meaning the waters could still reach up to 3 metres (10 feet).
The US Pacific Tsunami Warning Center, which had warned of possible tsunamis along 190 miles of coast, said about four hours after the 7.6-magnitude quake that the tsunami danger had “largely passed”.
Authorities in Japan were still assessing the extent of the damage and people needed to prepare for more tremors, the Japanese prime minister, Fumio Kishida, said. “Residents need to stay on alert for further possible quakes and I urge people in areas where tsunamis are expected to evacuate as soon as possible,” he said. Buildings shook 190 miles (300km) away in Tokyo.
The NHK broadcaster had issued warnings urging people to evacuate quickly to higher ground and to beware of aftershocks and further tsunamis.
A Tokyo resident visiting her hometown of Takaoka, a city directly south of the worst-affected Noto peninsula, for the new year holiday, said: “We’re not that close to the coast so tsunamis are not a worry but the aftershocks just keep coming and shaking the whole house, it’s terrifying.”
A government spokesperson, Hayashi Yoshimasa, said people should prepare for possible further quakes and that the Japan Self-Defense Forces were being readied for deployment to help with rescue and recovery efforts.