A powerful 7.5 earthquake hit central Japan on Monday, January 1, the US Geological Survey said, prompting tsunami warnings and authorities to urge people in the area to move to higher ground. Hazardous tsunami waves were possible within 300 kilometers of the quake's epicenter along the Japanese coast, the Hawaii-based Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said. A tsunami of 1.2 meters was confirmed to have arrived in Wajima city in Ishikawa prefecture.
But a much higher tsunami of five meters was expected to arrive in Noto in the same region, the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) said. The JMA said the Noto region, on the Sea of Japan side of Japan's main island of Honshu, experienced a rapid succession of quakes, starting with a 5.7 magnitude tremor at 4:06 pm local time. This was followed by a 7.6-magnitude quake at 4:10 pm, a 6.1-magnitude quake at 4:18 pm, a 4.5-magnitude one at 4:23 pm, a 4.6-magnitude quake at 4:29 pm, and 4.8 magnitude quake at 4:32 pm. Another quake with a magnitude of 6.2 hit soon after, the USGS said.
The largest of the quakes prompted broadcasters to switch to special programming and make urgent calls for affected residents to leave for higher ground. "We realise your home, your belongings are all precious to you, but your lives are important above everything else. Run to the highest ground possible," a presenter on broadcaster NHK told viewers.
"It has been confirmed that there are no abnormalities at Shika nuclear power plant (in Ishikawa) and other stations as of now," government spokesman Yoshimasa Hayashi said after the series of quakes.
Japan has strict construction regulations intended to ensure buildings can withstand strong earthquakes and routinely holds emergency drills to prepare for a major jolt. But the country is haunted by the memory of a massive 9.0-magnitude undersea quake off northeastern Japan in March 2011, which triggered a tsunami that left around 18,500 people dead or missing.
The 2011 tsunami also sent three reactors into meltdown at the Fukushima nuclear plant, causing Japan's worst post-war disaster and the most serious nuclear accident since Chornobyl.