A powerful 7.5-magnitude earthquake has shaken north-eastern Japan, prompting orders for about 90,000 residents to evacuate and tsunami warnings that hours later were downgraded to advisories.
The Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) initially said a tsunami as high as 3 metres (10ft) could hit Japan’s north-eastern coast after the earthquake struck off the coast at 11.15pm (2.15pm GMT).
Tsunami warnings were issued for the prefectures of Hokkaido, Aomori and Iwate, and tsunamis from 20 to 70cm (7 to 27in) high were observed at several ports, JMA said.
In the early hours of Tuesday the JMA downgraded the warnings to advisories, meaning it was seeing lower estimated wave heights and less risk of inundation.
Several fires were reported in Aomori, and about 90,000 residents were advised to take shelter at evacuation centres, the fire and disaster management agency said.
Satoshi Kato, a vice-principal of a high school in Hachinohe, told the public broadcaster NHK that he was at home when the quake struck, and that glasses and bowls fell and smashed into shards on the floor.
Kato said he drove to the school because it was designated an evacuation centre, and on the way he encountered traffic jams and car accidents as panicked people tried to flee. Nobody had yet come to the school to take shelter, he said.
The epicentre of the quake was 50 miles (80km) off the coast of Aomori prefecture, at a depth of 30 miles, the agency added.
On Japan’s one-to-seven scale of seismic intensity, the tremor registered as an “upper six” in Aomori prefecture – a quake strong enough to make it impossible to keep standing or move without crawling. In such tremors, most heavy furniture can collapse and wall tiles and windowpanes are damaged in many buildings.
East Japan Railway suspended some services in the area, which was also hit by the massive 9.0-magnitude quake in March 2011.
No irregularities were reported at nuclear power plants in the region run by Tohoku Electric Power and Hokkaido Electric Power, the utilities said. Tohoku Electric did say, however, that thousands were without power.
Japan is one of the world’s most earthquake-prone countries, with a tremor occurring at least every five minutes. Located in the “Ring of Fire” arc of volcanoes and oceanic trenches partly encircling the Pacific Basin, Japan accounts for about 20% of the world’s earthquakes of magnitude 6.0 or greater.
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