7.4 magnitude earthquake triggers tsunami alert along Japan’s western coastal region
Tokyo, The Gulf Observer: A powerful earthquake measuring a 7 on the Japanese scale — the strongest on the scale — rocked central Japan on Monday, prompting a tsunami warning for a broad swath of the country’s western coast.
The tsunami warning urged people to quickly leave coastal areas of Ishikawa, Niigata, Toyama and Yamagata prefectures, with over 1.2 meter waves reaching the Noto Peninsula’s Wajima Port in Ishikawa — where a rare major tsunami warning had been issued — around 4:21 p.m., NHK reported.
Warnings of tsunami of up to 3 meters were issued across the Sea of Japan coast all the way from Hokkaido to Nagasaki.
Those warnings were punctuated by several aftershocks following the initial quake, which registered an estimated magnitude of 7.4, struck the Noto Peninsula, with waves as high as 5 meters predicted to hit the area. The Noto area experienced seven earthquakes, while 11 had been registered across all of Japan as of 5 p.m.
Waves of 80 cm reached Toyama Prefecture around 4:35 p.m and waves of 40 meters also reached Kashiwazaki, Niigata Prefecture, at 4:36 p.m. It also reached Niigata’s Sado Island at 4:10 p.m.
The tsunami was also expected to hit Yamagata and Hyogo prefectures.
The major tsunami warning issued for the Noto Peninsula area was the top-level alert out of three warnings and was equal to one issued after the March 2011 quake in the Tohoku region.
Nuclear plant operator Tepco was checking whether there had been any impact of the earthquake on its facilities in the region, according to a post by the company on its official account on the X social media platform. As of 4:30 p.m. no irregularities had been reported at the nuclear power plant in Kashiwazaki, Niigata Prefecture, according to NHK.
