There were four confirmed deaths, the Japanese news agency Kyodo reported early Tuesday morning, citing authorities in Ishikawa Prefecture. The prefecture in the west of the main island of Honshu was hit by a magnitude 7.5 earthquake.
According to Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, the worst-hit areas are difficult for rescue workers to access. He refers to destroyed streets. A crisis team will meet in the coming hours.
Highest tsunami warning lowered once more
Japanese television channels reported tidal waves of more than one meter. People were urged to seek safety on high ground or buildings. The highest tsunami warning was later lowered once more. The residents of the coast should not return to their homes for the time being. Tsunami warnings were also subsequently issued on the Korean peninsula opposite Japan and in eastern Russia.
According to TV channels, dozens of houses in Japan collapsed due to the strong tremors. The government reported six cases in the town of Wajima on the Noto Peninsula where people were buried alive under rubble. A large fire also broke out in the city. The government set up a crisis team. However, there were no irregularities in nuclear power plants.
At 4:10 p.m. (8:10 CET), the weather authority reported a strong tremor of magnitude 7.6. It occurred at a very shallow depth, the epicenter was in the Noto Peninsula region on the Sea of Japan. The authority then issued a strong tsunami warning for Ishikawa Prefecture and lower warnings for the other coastal regions in the west of the archipelago. The quake was felt from Hokkaido in northern Japan to the southwestern main island of Kyushu.
The regions were subsequently hit by further tremors. Streets were torn up, a fire broke out in a factory, and goods fell off the shelves in individual stores. Power went out in 34,000 households in Ishikawa and other prefectures. There were reports of burst water pipes. Winter temperatures are currently prevailing in the affected region. Soldiers were sent to the Ishikawa region for recovery work.
Buildings in Tokyo swayed
Buildings in the area of the capital Tokyo, which has a population of millions, also began to sway. High-speed trains were temporarily stopped. The national meteorological agency warned of further strong quakes this week, especially in the next two or three days.
The eastern province of Gangwon in South Korea also warned residents of several cities and counties regarding tsunamis, the national news agency Yonhap reported. After a series of smaller tidal waves in the early evening (local time), the weather office later recorded a wave of 67 centimeters off the coastal city of Donghae.
Compared to the tsunami disaster in Japan in March 2011, the tsunami waves in the country were significantly smaller this time. At that time, a magnitude 9 earthquake triggered a huge tsunami that devastated large areas in the northeast and killed around 20,000 people. There was a disaster at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. Japan is one of the most earthquake-prone countries in the world.
The warning
