Japan earthquake: 23 injured, tsunami warning lifted following 7.6-magnitude temblor
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A house burns after a powerful earthquake in Aomori, north-eastern Japan, early Dec 9.
PHOTO: EPA
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TOKYO - A powerful 7.6-magnitude earthquake shook northeastern Japan late on Dec 8, with the country’s meteorological agency recording several tsunami waves reached the shoreline and local media reporting more than 20 injuries.
The earthquake and tsunami warnings prompted orders for about 90,000 residents to evacuate their homes, although the warnings were later downgraded to advisories.
The Japan Meteorological Agency issued a tsunami warning, with one wave hitting a port in the northern region of Aomori, where Misawa is located.
Several more waves reached the coast, measuring up to 70cm, JMA reported.
Early on Dec 9 the agency lifted the tsunami warning, according to Kyodo news agency. JMA kept lower-grade advisories in effect for parts of northern Japan for several hours, but those, too, were eventually cancelled.
The epicentre of the quake was 80km off the coast of Aomori prefecture, at a depth of 54km, the agency added.
The fire and disaster management agency said 23 people were injured, including one seriously. Most of the victims were hit by falling objects, public broadcaster NHK reported, adding that several people were injured in a hotel in Hachinohe and a man in Tohoku was injured when his car fell into a hole.
The tsunami warning was issued for the prefectures of Hokkaido, Aomori and Iwate.
PHOTO: USGS
On Japan’s 1-7 scale of seismic intensity, the tremor registered as an “upper 6“ in Aomori prefecture – a quake strong enough to make it impossible to keep standing or move without crawling. In such tremors, most heavy furniture can collapse and wall tiles and windowpanes are damaged in many buildings.
As of 5pm GMT (1am Singapore time), there was little information of major damage or casualties from public broadcaster NHK. It cited a hotel employee in Hachinohe as saying a number of people were injured and taken to hospital, but that all were conscious.
Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi told reporters at the Prime Minister’s Office that “under the policy of putting human life first, the government will work together to do everything in its power to implement emergency disaster response measures, such as saving and rescuing those affected”, reported Yomiuri Shimbun.
With the quake rattling much of northern Japan, Shinkansen bullet-train service was suspended between Fukushima and Aomori, with the operator posting online that some service was expected to resume later on the morning of Dec 9.
A tsunami warning flashes over live footage of a waterfront area, on a TV screen in Sapporo, in Japan’s northern Hokkaido prefecture on Dec 9.
PHOTO: AFP
The quake sent some people running out of their homes, while some uploaded videos of moving furniture on social media.
Public broadcaster NHK cited a hotel employee in the city of Hachinohe in Aomori as saying there had been some injuries as a result of the quake.
Live footage showed shattered glass fragments scattered across roads.
Hachinohe residents fled their homes to seek shelter in the city hall, NHK said.
The quake was also felt in the northern hub of Sapporo, where alarms rang on smartphones to alert residents.
Bookshelves and documents that fell during an earthquake are seen at Kyodo News' Hakodate bureau in Hakodate, Hokkaido, Japan.
PHOTO: REUTERS
A reporter for NHK in Hokkaido described a horizontal shaking of around 30 seconds that made him unable to keep standing as the earthquake struck.
Top government spokesman Minoru Kihara urged residents to stay in a safe place until the warning had been lifted.
“Even after an initial wave, a second or third wave of an even greater height can arrive,” he told reporters.
“There is a possibility that further powerful and stronger earthquakes could occur over the next several days,” a JMA official said at a briefing.
A sign displays information about a road closure due to an earthquake on a highway in Chitose, Hokkaido, Japan on Dec 9.
PHOTO: REUTERS
No irregularities were reported at nuclear power plants in the region run by Tohoku Electric Power and Hokkaido Electric Power, the utilities said. Tohoku Electric initially said thousands of households had lost power but later lowered that number to the hundreds.
The yen weakened against major currencies after news of the tremor, before regaining some ground. The dollar touched a session high and was trading at around 155.81 yen around 3.33pm GMT, while the euro also hit a session high.
Japan is one of the world’s most earthquake-prone countries, with a tremor occurring at least every five minutes. Located in the “Ring of Fire” of volcanoes and oceanic trenches partly encircling the Pacific Basin, Japan accounts for about 20 per cent of the world’s earthquakes of magnitude 6.0 or greater.
The north-eastern region suffered one of the country’s deadliest earthquakes on March 11, 2011, when a 9.0-magnitude tremor struck under the ocean off the coast of the northern city of Sendai.
It was the most powerful ever recorded in Japan and set off a series of massive tsunami that devastated a wide swathe of the Pacific coastline and killed nearly 20,000 people.
The 2011 tsunami also damaged the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, leading to a series of explosions and meltdowns in the world’s worst nuclear disaster for 25 years. AFP, REUTERS
