The Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) lowered the initial tsunami alert for the east coast of the country after the 7.6 magnitude earthquake recorded on Monday near the prefectures of Hokkaido and Aomori, which left at least seven injured and water rises of up to 70 centimeters in some affected coastal towns. The agency, however, insists in its recommendation that people on the coasts of Hokkaido and Tohoku seek an elevated location due to the possibility of waves derived from aftershocks of the earthquake. The evacuation of more than 23,000 people was also requested.
Magnitude 7.6 earthquake in Japan
Initially, the WAN activated the tsunami warning up to three meters for the coasts of Aomori prefecture, neighboring Iwate and the southern tip of the island of Hokkaido, the northernmost of the archipelago, after the earthquake shook a large part of northern and eastern Japan at 11:15 p.m. (3:15 p.m. in mainland Spain). In the latter, two people were injured by falls during evacuation efforts, according to local news agency Kyodo. The latest death toll was provided by the country’s Prime Minister, Sanae Takaichi, who confirmed seven injuries whose lives were not in danger, according to the newspaper. Asahi Shimbun.
The quake’s epicenter was located 80 kilometers off the coast of Aomori Prefecture and at a depth of 50 kilometers, according to the Meteorological Agency. Furthermore, in the hour following the earthquake, several aftershocks were recorded, including one of magnitude 5.6, two of 3.6 and one of 3.9. As a result, authorities for the first time issued a warning about the possibility of another major earthquake occurring in the coming days in the northern regions of Hokkaido and Sanriku, according to the newspaper. Yomiuri Shinbum. The AMJ asked the population residing in these areas to take extreme precautions.
“Tsunamis continue to be observed, so continue to evacuate” risk areas, warned the director of the JMA’s Earthquake and Tsunami Observation Division, Shinji Kiyomoto, at a press conference. Takaichi said upon his arrival at government headquarters in Tokyo that the executive was cooperating “closely with local authorities to take appropriate measures in the event of a disaster, putting people’s lives first”, national broadcaster NHK said.
The earthquake was felt over a large part of the territory, from the north to the center and east of the country, including in Tokyo, where it reached level 2 on the national seismic scale (7 levels and focused on measuring surface agitation and destructive potential). On that scale, the shaking was recorded as “greater than 6” in Aomori Prefecture, meaning with enough force to make standing or moving without crawling impossible.
The operator of the two nuclear power plants located in the area most shaken by the earthquake, Higashidori and Onagawa, is reviewing the situation at the plants, where for the moment no anomalies have been reported, reported government spokesperson Minoru Kihara.
Located in the Pacific Ring of Fire, where most of the world’s active volcanoes are concentrated, Japan is one of the countries with the most earthquakes, experiencing on average one tremor every five minutes. That’s why it also has one of the most advanced earthquake and tsunami warning systems, designed to quickly detect the first seismic waves and anticipate the arrival of the strongest waves a few seconds in advance. The system has more than 1,000 seismograph stations located throughout the country.
The largest earthquake that Japan has suffered since records began was the 8.9 magnitude earthquake which, in March 2011, devastated the country by causing a gigantic tsunami with waves of up to 10 meters, which hit the Fukushima nuclear power plant. The disaster left more than 10,000 dead and many missing.
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