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Pacific nations prepare for tsunami after huge quake off Japan: UPDATED

An earthquake at 9:46 PM Pacific Standard Time near the east coast of Honshu, Japan, with preliminary magnitude 8.9 has triggered a potentially large tsunami now propagating across the Pacific Ocean.

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The Pacific Tsunami Warning Cente (PTWC) in Hilo, Hawaii, has issued a tsunami alert for the entire region. At current, tsunami warning is in effect for more than 20 countries.

“This is the largest earthquake known in Japan," said Kevin McCue, a seismologist at CQUniversity’s campus in Canberra, in a statement to the Australian Science Media Centre (AusSMC).

The quake originated some 400 kilometres north of Tokyo, at 24 kilometres depth. The sudden dislocation of the seafloor generated a tsunami which hit north Japan around 30 minutes later. The quake and tsunami have killed at least 18 people in Japan, and caused severe and widespread destruction.

“Japan has a rigourous earthquake building code and excellent tsunami warning system and evacuation plans,” said James Goff, Co-Director of the Australian Tsunami Research Centre and Natural Hazards Research Lab at the University of New South Wales, in a statement to the AusSMC. "This event will likely provide a severe test for all of them.”

The first of possibly several large waves are expected to reach the Hawaiian Islands at around 03.00 am on Friday morning. Emergency services in Hawaii have begun to evacuate residents and tourists along threatened coastlines. In the Philippines, officials have ordered the evacuation of coastal communities along the country’s eastern coast.

UPDATE: Associated Press reports that tsunami waves have reached Hawaii.

The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center says Kauai was the first island hit early Friday by the tsunami, and the waves surged in Waikiki. Officials predicted Hawaii would experience waves up to 6 feet, and officials spent hours evacuating ahead of the storms.

Image courtesy of Burak Uslu, NOAA

Comments

  1. Report this comment

    Ai Lin Chun said:

    Comments from Tokyo, Japan…

    This is the first time I truly understood what does ‘Japan has a rigorous earthquake building code’ means. Our office was shaken up quite a bit – books, papers and everything from shelves had fallen to the ground and piled on desks. Shelves that were screwed to the floor were also uprooted and toppled over during the tremours. Basically, a mess everywhere. Everyone told me that there will be lots of cleaning to do at home. However, I was hugely surprised when I walked into my apartment (a tall high rise of 36 floors built just last year and touted to have superior earthquake proof technology)…everything looked fine. A few books were scattered on the floor but everything else was pretty much OK. I was needless to say VERY impressed.

    While waiting outside near the moat after evacuation, I was getting a bit hysterical at some point when the aftershocks hit…cars were shaking, buildings swaying and a tiny piece of a building apparently going to tear off. The motions were just beneath my feet and all the while thinking there is absolutely nothing anyone can do. That was frightening. And must say was calmed down when I noticed that everyone around there was calm. There were people and cars everywhere but no real chaos. People were rushing to the convenient stores (or combini) to buy up food but everyone was civilized…putting things in shopping baskets and lining up to pay for the goods. The shelves were emptied very very rapidly and that was scary to see…I was a bit late and so did not have bread for tomorrow’s breakfast. But did get onigiri (rice balls).

    Some companies seem to have also prepared helmets for their employees…

    There is still swaying as I type this but much less aggressive…

    Ai Lin Chun

    Senior Editor

    Nature Nanotechnology

    Tokyo office

  2. Report this comment

    Tsunami said:

    As you said that there are 20 countries in the list of tsunami and the above picture was very clear, we had known a lot of things in this site.

    ————-

    Jack

    Tsunami

  3. Report this comment

    Tsunami Blogs said:

    This is the big blow for so called developed country.All the nations should be united to come foreword to give their helping hand to JAPAN.

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