TRANSCRIPT
Japan just went through a big scare.
More than a dozen strong quakes had been detected in the northern part of Honshu, its main island. The largest had a magnitude of 7.6.
This created a risk of landslides and houses collapsing, but also one of Japan's biggest trauma: a tsunami.
The Japan Meteorological Agency reported the quakes had their epicentre in the Japan Sea off the coast of the Ishikawa prefecture yesterday [[MON]] afternoon.
The agency initially issued a major tsunami warning for Ishikawa and lower-level tsunami warnings or advisories for the rest of the western coast of the island of Honshu, as well as the northernmost of its main islands, Hokkaido.
It also issued warnings for the prefectures of Niigata and Toyama.
Johnny Wu, a Taiwanese tourist in the area, shares his experience:
"About 5, 10 seconds before I was there waiting for the shuttle bus back to hotel, and suddenly my phone ringing about the earthquake warning, it says Ishikawa get an earthquake so be careful. Suddenly it get pretty strong earthquake, you can see all the snow from the the electric wire goes down, and also (the snow) from the roof fell down."
Japanese public broadcaster NHK TV initially warned torrents of water could reach as high as 5 meters
In the end, the quakes caused a fire and collapsed buildings.
Authorities said people are trapped in buildings that collapsed in the quake and a fire has broken out in the city of Wajima.
It was unclear how many people might have been killed or hurt.
Daniel Smith, an American resident of Japan, could feel the quake in the town of Toyama:
“The first tremor started very slowly and everybody kind of left it off, you know, they thought this is kind of humorous, you know, on New Year’s Day. And then it was just a violent shake, I mean violent shaking.”
But the worst of the tsunami scare seems to have receded.
The agency downgraded its warning to a regular tsunami several hours later, meaning the waters could still reach up to 3 metres.
The agency also warned of the risk of aftershocks in the same area over the next few days, with a particular risk of similar quakes in the next two or three days.
Residents of coastal areas are still told not to return to their homes as deadly waves could come.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida warns residents to remain careful:
“First of all, I would like to ask all residents to continue to pay close attention to the occurrence of this strong earthquake. If you are in a region where a tsunami is expected, please evacuate as soon as possible.”
The Japanese government has set up a special emergency center to gather information on the quakes and tsunami and relay them speedily to residents to ensure safety, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida told reporters.
Tsunami warnings were also issued for parts of North Korea and Russia.
