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Japanese authorities have issued a tsunami warning and told people to evacuate after an earthquake was detected off the country’s northeastern coast.
A tsunami wave of three metres (10ft) is expected to hit Iwate prefecture and parts of Hokkaido ‘immediately’, after a 7.4-magnitude quake was recorded at 4.53pm local time (7.53am UK time)
Japanese media has reported that tsunamis will also be expected over the next hour in Aomori, Miyagi and Fukushima, though these waves are only expected to be three ft.
The earthquake’s epicentre was in the Pacific Ocean, and was six miles deep.
The tremor was reportedly strong enough to shake large buildings as far as Tokyo, hundreds of miles away.
Japan’s Meteorological Agency (JMA) warned those near water to get to safety: ‘Evacuate immediately from coastal regions and riverside areas to a safer place such as high ground or an evacuation building.
‘Tsunami waves are expected to hit repeatedly. Do not leave safe ground until the warning is lifted.’
Prime minister Sanae Takaichi’s office has said that it has set up a crisis management team in the wake of the earthquake.
The US’ National Weather Service said following the quake that a tsunami is not expected to hit California, Alaska, Washington or Oregon in America, nor will anything hit British Columbia in Canada.
Japan is one of the world’s most seismically active countries, sitting on top of four major tectonic plates along the western edge of the Pacific ‘Ring of Fire’.
The archipelago, home to around 125 million people, typically experiences around 1,500 jolts every year and accounts for about 18 percent of the world’s earthquakes.
The vast majority are mild, although the damage they cause varies according to their location and the depth below the Earth’s surface at which they strike.
In 2011, a magnitude-9.0 quake triggered a tsunami that left 18,500 people dead or missing and caused a devastating meltdown at the Fukushima nuclear plant.
More to follow.
