Major tsunami damage in Japan after 8.9 quake

By MALCOLM FOSTER, Associated Press Malcolm Foster, Associated Press – 16 mins ago

TOKYO – Japan was struck by a magnitude 8.9 earthquake off its northeastern coast Friday, unleashing a 13-foot (4-meter) tsunami that washed away cars and tore away buildings along the coast near the epicenter. There were reports of injuries in Tokyo.

In various locations along Japan's coast, TV footage showed massive damage from the tsunami, with dozens of cars, boats and even buildings being carried along by waters. A large ship swept away by the tsunami rammed directly into a breakwater in Kesennuma city in Miyagi prefecture, according to footage on public broadcaster NHK.

Officials were trying to assess damage, injuries and deaths from the quake but had no immediate details.

The quake that struck at 2:46 p.m. was followed by a series of powerful aftershocks, including a 7.4-magnitude one about 30 minutes later. The U.S. Geological Survey upgraded the strength of the first quake to a magnitude 8.9, while Japan's meteorological agency measured it at 7.9.

The meteorological agency issued a tsunami warning for the entire Pacific coast of Japan. NHK was warning those near the coast to get to safer ground.

The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center in Hawaii said a tsunami warning was in effect for Japan, Russia, Marcus Island and the Northern Marianas. A tsunami watch has been issued for Guam, Taiwan, the Philippines, Indonesia and the U.S. state of Hawaii.

The quake struck at a depth of six miles (10 kilometers), about 80 miles (125 kilometers) off the eastern coast, the agency said. The area is 240 miles (380 kilometers) northeast of Tokyo.

In downtown Tokyo, large buildings shook violently and workers poured into the street for safety. TV footage showed a large building on fire and bellowing smoke in the Odaiba district of Tokyo.

In central Tokyo, trains were stopped and passengers walked along the tracks to platforms.

The ceiling in Kudan Kaikan, a large hall in Tokyo, collapsed, injuring an unknown number of people, NHK said.

Footage on NHK from their Sendai office showed employees stumbling around and books and papers crashing from desks. It also showed a glass shelter at a bus stop in Tokyo completely smashed by the quake and a weeping woman nearby being comforted by another woman.

Several quakes had hit the same region in recent days, including a 7.3 magnitude one on Wednesday.

Thirty minutes after the quake, tall buildings were still swaying in Tokyo and mobile phone networks were not working. Japan's Coast Guard has set up task force and officials are standing by for emergency contingencies, Coast Guard official Yosuke Oi said.

"I'm afraid we'll soon find out about damages, since the quake was so strong," he said

Japan's high-tech approach to tsunami detection

Source: The Christian Science Monitor

29 December 2004 | EN
A tsunami detection buoy

Tsunami detection buoy

NOAA

As nations in South and South-East Asia come to terms with the effects of last week's tsunami, which claimed tens of thousand of lives, officials are calling for a tsunami alert system for the Indian Ocean to be set up.

Such a system would require technology, trained staff, and communications systems allowing coordinated responses across the region. Japan — which is particularly prone to earthquakes and tsunamis — has offered technical assistance.

In this article, Bennett Richardson describes Japan's tsunami detection system, and how the technology could help reduce impacts of future earthquakes in the Indian Ocean.

Japan spends US$20 million a year on a system of 300 earthquake sensors relaying real-time information by satellite to centres that coordinate evacuation warnings and other responses to imminent tsunamis. Japanese technology developed in the past 12 months allows the size, speed, and direction of a tsunami to be calculated and transmitted in seconds.

A tsunami alert system was set up in the Pacific Ocean in 1965 and now covers 26 countries in the Pacific Rim. However, no such system exists in the Indian Ocean, where an earthquake off the coast of Indonesia triggered the 26 December tsunami.

The lack of an alert system is thought to have contributed to the high death toll in countries — such as India, Sri Lanka and Thailand — far from the earthquake's epicentre.

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