Major Japan quake triggers tsunami waves

   Tokyo, January 1, 2024 –Tsunami waves up to a metre high rocked central Japan on Monday, following a series of violent earthquakes that damaged homes, stopped highways, and prompted authorities to advise residents to seek higher ground.

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According to the US Geological Survey (USGS), a major 7.5 magnitude earthquake rocked the Noto region of Ishikawa prefecture at 4:10 p.m. (0710 GMT).

Japan's weather office reported 21 earthquakes of 4.0 magnitude or higher striking the country's central area in less than 90 minutes.

Tsunami waves as high as 1.2 meters (four feet) reached Wajima port in Ishikawa prefecture approximately 10 minutes after the biggest shock, according to the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA).

"All residents must evacuate immediately to higher ground," urged NHK, Japan's national television, following the quakes.

The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center in Hawaii indicated that dangerous tsunami waves were probable within 300 kilometers (190 miles) of the quake's epicentre along the coast, on the Sea of Japan side of Japan's main island of Honshu.

However, a five-metre tsunami was forecast to hit Noto in the same location, according to the JMA.

The Japanese authorities stated that it was still assessing the extent of the damage and whether any casualties had occurred.

According to local utilities, roughly 33,500 households in Toyama, Ishikawa, and Niigata prefectures were without electricity.

Television reports showed a building on fire in Wajima, Ishikawa, and AFP correspondents said that houses in central Tokyo trembled.

A video footage shared on the social networking platform X showed lines of wooden houses that had been overturned by the earthquakes, with walls and roofs caved in.This is Noto's Matsunami district. We're in a bad predicament. Please come and assist us. "My town is in a terrible situation," one of the people heard in the video remarked.Sakhalin Island and Vladivostok in Russia's far east were placed on "alert" following the Japanese earthquakes, officials said.Above all else, he lives.'According to the JMA, the Noto region has suffered a quick succession of quakes, with another 6.2 tremor expected soon. The USGS stated that after the initial swarm.


  The most powerful of the quakes led broadcasters to switch to special programming and issue urgent warnings to impacted households to evacuate to higher ground.

"We understand that your home and belongings are important to you, but your lives are more important than anything else." "Run to the highest ground possible," an NHK presenter advised viewers.

Several major highways were stopped surrounding the epicentre, according to Japan's road operator, while Shinkansen bullet train services between Tokyo and the epicentre in Noto were also suspended.

Yoshimasa Hayashi, a government spokesman, said there had been no reports of irregularities at the Shika nuclear power station in Ishikawa or at other sites.

Japan has tight construction laws in place to ensure that structures can withstand strong earthquakes, and it runs emergency exercises on a regular basis to prepare for a major jolt.

However, the country is plagued by the memory of a catastrophic 9.0-magnitude underwater quake off northeastern Japan in March 2011, which caused a tsunami that killed or injured over 18,500 people. The 2011 tsunami also caused three reactors at the Fukushima nuclear power plant to melt down, resulting in Japan's biggest postwar tragedy and the most serious nuclear accident since Chernobyl.

A 7.4-magnitude earthquake off the coast of Fukushima struck significant regions of eastern Japan in March 2022, killing three people.

A massive earthquake rocked Tokyo a century ago, in 1923.