A magnitude 7.6 earthquake in JapanI had left scary videos of the moment of the quake. Offices that shake, street signs that shake, lights that sway.
The earthquake struck the Asian country’s northern coast on Monday, where multiple tsunami waves of up to 70 centimeters were recorded, authorities said, raising the alarm early Tuesday.
According to the United States Geological Survey (USGS), the earthquake occurred at 11:15 p.m. (14:15 GMT) off Misawa on the north coast at a depth of 53 kilometers.
The Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) immediately issued a tsunami warning. A first wave hit a port in Aomori on Japan’s main island at 11:43 p.m. (2:43 p.m. GMT), the agency said.
Several waves up to 70 centimeters high later reached the coast, he added.
The public broadcaster NHK It quoted a hotel worker in the town of Hachinohe, Aomori, as saying there were some injuries. Live footage showed broken glass scattered across the streets.
According to NHK, Hachinohe residents fled their homes to seek refuge at city hall.
The earthquake was also felt in downtown Sapporo, where alarms sounded on cellphones to alert residents.
An NHK reporter in Hokkaido described a horizontal tremor lasting about 30 seconds that prevented him from standing.
The weather agency had warned that a tsunami of up to three meters in height was expected on Japan’s Pacific coast.
The government spokesman Minoru Kihara He urged residents to stay in a safe place until the warning is lifted.
Kihara explained had not received any “reports of anomalies.” at the two nuclear power plants in northern Japan, adding that research is currently underway at other nuclear plants.
In 2011, a magnitude 9.0 earthquake triggered a tsunami that left 18,500 people dead or missing and caused a devastating meltdown at the Fukushima nuclear power plant.
Shortly after Monday’s earthquake, Tohoku Electric Power said in a post on they had shown no abnormality.
Japan is located in the so-called Pacific Ring of Firean area of intense seismic activity.
The archipelago, home to around 125 million people, has approx 1,500 shocks per year.
The vast majority are minor, although the damage they cause varies depending on location and depth below the earth’s surface.
Earthquakes are extremely difficult to predict, but in January a government panel slightly increased the chances of a major quake in the Nankai Trench off the coast of Japan in the next 30 years to 75% to 82%.
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