Japan tsunami claims at least 1,000 lives
Source: Agencies |
March 12, 2011, Saturday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
A FEROCIOUS tsunami triggered by one of the largest earthquakes ever recorded slammed into Japan's east coast yesterday, killing at least 1,000 people as it swept away boats, cars and homes.
Widespread fires burned out of control.
Hours later, the tsunami hit Hawaii and warnings blanketed the Pacific, putting areas on alert as far away as South America, Canada, Alaska and the entire US West Coast.
Police said up to 300 bodies were found in the northeastern coastal city of Sendai, the city in Miyagi Prefecture closest to the quake's epicenter. Another 137 were confirmed killed, with 531 people missing. Police said 627 people were injured.
The magnitude-8.9 offshore quake unleashed a 7-meter tsunami and was followed by more than 50 aftershocks for hours, many of them of more than magnitude 6.0.
Dozens of cities and villages along a 2,100-kilometer stretch of coastline were shaken by violent tremors that reached as far away as Tokyo, hundreds of kilometers from the epicenter.
A large section of Kesennuma, a town of 70,000 people in Miyagi, burned furiously into the night with no apparent hope of the flames being extinguished, public broadcaster NHK said.
A witness told the broadcaster that the fire began after the tsunami knocked over several cars, causing them to leak oil and gas. The fire started hours later and rescuers have yet to arrive, according to NHK.
"The earthquake has caused major damage in broad areas in northern Japan," Prime Minister Naoto Kan said at a news conference.
Japan's coast guard said it was searching for 80 dock workers working on a ship that was swept away from a shipyard in Miyagi.
Even for a country used to earthquakes, this one was of horrific proportions because of the tsunami that crashed ashore, swallowing everything in its path as it surged several kilometers inland before retreating.
Submerged vehicles
Large fishing boats and other sea vessels rode high waves into the cities, slamming against overpasses or scraping under them and snapping power lines along the way. Upturned and partially submerged vehicles were seen bobbing in the water. Ships anchored in ports crashed against each other.
The tsunami roared over embankments, washing anything in its path inland before reversing direction and carrying cars, homes and other debris out to sea.
Waves of muddy water flowed over farmland near Sendai, carrying buildings, some on fire, inland as cars attempted to drive away. Sendai airport was inundated with cars, trucks, buses and thick mud deposited over its runways.
The highways to the worst-hit coastal areas were buckled and communications, including telephone lines, were snapped.
Train services in northeastern Japan and in Tokyo, which normally serve 10 million people a day, were suspended, leaving untold numbers stranded in stations or roaming the streets. Narita Airport was closed indefinitely.
NHK said more than 4 million buildings were without power in Tokyo and its suburbs.
As night fell, the streets were jammed with cars, buses and trucks trying to get around and out of the city. Pedestrians swarmed the sidewalks to walk home, or at least find a warm place to spend the night as the temperature dropped.
A large fire erupted at the Cosmo oil refinery in Ichihara city in Chiba prefecture and burned out of control with 130-meter flames whipping into the sky.
The US Geological Survey said the quake was a magnitude 8.9, the biggest to hit Japan since officials began keeping records in the late 1800s, and the fifth most powerful in the world in the past century.
The quake struck at a depth of 10 kilometers, about 125 kilometers off the east coast, the agency said.
The area is around 380 kilometers northeast of Tokyo.
The first waves from a tsunami caused by a Japanese earthquake have reached the US mainland along the Oregon coast.
Geophysicist Gerard Fryer at the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center in Honolulu says high water reached Port Orford, Oregon, around 1530 GMT yesterday.
Officials along the coast activated warning sirens hours earlier to alert people to leave low-lying areas. People in coastal of Oregon, California and Washington evacuated ahead of the waves Friday.
In Alaska, the tsunami caused a wave just over 5 feet at Shemya in the Aleutian Islands 1,200 miles (1,900 kilometers) southwest of Anchorage.
Widespread fires burned out of control.
Hours later, the tsunami hit Hawaii and warnings blanketed the Pacific, putting areas on alert as far away as South America, Canada, Alaska and the entire US West Coast.
Police said up to 300 bodies were found in the northeastern coastal city of Sendai, the city in Miyagi Prefecture closest to the quake's epicenter. Another 137 were confirmed killed, with 531 people missing. Police said 627 people were injured.
The magnitude-8.9 offshore quake unleashed a 7-meter tsunami and was followed by more than 50 aftershocks for hours, many of them of more than magnitude 6.0.
Dozens of cities and villages along a 2,100-kilometer stretch of coastline were shaken by violent tremors that reached as far away as Tokyo, hundreds of kilometers from the epicenter.
A large section of Kesennuma, a town of 70,000 people in Miyagi, burned furiously into the night with no apparent hope of the flames being extinguished, public broadcaster NHK said.
A witness told the broadcaster that the fire began after the tsunami knocked over several cars, causing them to leak oil and gas. The fire started hours later and rescuers have yet to arrive, according to NHK.
"The earthquake has caused major damage in broad areas in northern Japan," Prime Minister Naoto Kan said at a news conference.
Japan's coast guard said it was searching for 80 dock workers working on a ship that was swept away from a shipyard in Miyagi.
Even for a country used to earthquakes, this one was of horrific proportions because of the tsunami that crashed ashore, swallowing everything in its path as it surged several kilometers inland before retreating.
Submerged vehicles
Large fishing boats and other sea vessels rode high waves into the cities, slamming against overpasses or scraping under them and snapping power lines along the way. Upturned and partially submerged vehicles were seen bobbing in the water. Ships anchored in ports crashed against each other.
The tsunami roared over embankments, washing anything in its path inland before reversing direction and carrying cars, homes and other debris out to sea.
Waves of muddy water flowed over farmland near Sendai, carrying buildings, some on fire, inland as cars attempted to drive away. Sendai airport was inundated with cars, trucks, buses and thick mud deposited over its runways.
The highways to the worst-hit coastal areas were buckled and communications, including telephone lines, were snapped.
Train services in northeastern Japan and in Tokyo, which normally serve 10 million people a day, were suspended, leaving untold numbers stranded in stations or roaming the streets. Narita Airport was closed indefinitely.
NHK said more than 4 million buildings were without power in Tokyo and its suburbs.
As night fell, the streets were jammed with cars, buses and trucks trying to get around and out of the city. Pedestrians swarmed the sidewalks to walk home, or at least find a warm place to spend the night as the temperature dropped.
A large fire erupted at the Cosmo oil refinery in Ichihara city in Chiba prefecture and burned out of control with 130-meter flames whipping into the sky.
The US Geological Survey said the quake was a magnitude 8.9, the biggest to hit Japan since officials began keeping records in the late 1800s, and the fifth most powerful in the world in the past century.
The quake struck at a depth of 10 kilometers, about 125 kilometers off the east coast, the agency said.
The area is around 380 kilometers northeast of Tokyo.
The first waves from a tsunami caused by a Japanese earthquake have reached the US mainland along the Oregon coast.
Geophysicist Gerard Fryer at the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center in Honolulu says high water reached Port Orford, Oregon, around 1530 GMT yesterday.
Officials along the coast activated warning sirens hours earlier to alert people to leave low-lying areas. People in coastal of Oregon, California and Washington evacuated ahead of the waves Friday.
In Alaska, the tsunami caused a wave just over 5 feet at Shemya in the Aleutian Islands 1,200 miles (1,900 kilometers) southwest of Anchorage.
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