Japan orders coastal evacuation as earthquake triggers tsunami
Residents told to find high ground with three-metre-high waves expected to hit northern shoreline
A tsunami has begun to hit Japan after a powerful earthquake struck off its northern coast.
Three-metre-high waves are expected to reach the Iwate, Aomori and Hokkaido prefectures, where residents have been told to evacuate immediately.
Two waves measuring 70cm and 80cm have struck the Kuji port, in Iwate, at 5.32 pm and 5.34pm local time respectively.
The earthquake, which had an epicentre in the Pacific Ocean, registered a preliminary magnitude of 7.4 at a depth of about six miles below the sea surface.
”Evacuate immediately from coastal regions and riverside areas to a safer place such as high ground or an evacuation building,” , the Japan Meteorological Agency said, warning that damage owing to tsunami waves was expected.
”Tsunami waves are expected to hit repeatedly. Do not leave safe ground until the warning is lifted,” it said.
The prime minister’s office said it had set up a crisis-management team.
Japan is one of the world’s most seismically active countries, sitting on top of four major tectonic plates along the western edge of the Pacific “Ring of Fire”.
The archipelago, home to about 125 million people, typically experiences around 1,500 jolts every year and accounts for around 18 per cent of the world’s earthquakes.
The vast majority are mild, although the damage they cause varies according to their location and the depth below Earth’s surface at which they strike.
In 2011, a magnitude 9.0 earthquake triggered a tsunami that left 18,500 people dead or missing and caused a meltdown at the Fukushima nuclear plant.
[Source: Daily Telegraph]
