TOKYO, Apr 3: Japan issued a tsunami alert early today following a powerful 8.2-magnitude earthquake thousands of kilometres away across the Pacific Ocean in Chile, but said it was not likely to cause damage.
The Japan Meteorological Agency’s “tsunami advisory” – the lowest in its three-level alert system – said a tsunami of up to one metre (three feet) above normal sea levels may hit eastern Pacific coast regions.
Sea levels have yet to change as of 6:30 am (0300IST today), more than an hour after the first waves were initially forecast to hit northern Hokkaido.
Large areas of the coastline covered by the advisory were also hit by the 2011 quake and tsunami, which killed more than 18,000 people and triggered a nuclear accident in Fukushima.
The agency warned people to leave the coast but said it did not expect damage from the waves.
“Get out of the water and leave the coast immediately,” it said.
But it added: “Though there may be slight sea-level change in coastal regions, no tsunami damage is expected.”
Local authorities issued evacuation advisories to more than 22,000 people living near the coastline in Iwate prefecture, northern Japan, public broadcaster NHK said.
Television footage showed local residents fleeing to nearby shelter in Kesennuma, Miyagi prefecture, where more than 1,000 people were killed in the 2011 tsunami.
Authorities in Japan and many other countries at risk of tsunamis have well-developed early warning systems and tend to be cautious.
Television footage earlier showed officials in Kochi, southwestern Japan, closing a metal barrier to seal their local breakwater in preparation for possible high waves.
Tokyo Electric Power, which runs the crippled Fukushima Daiichi plant, would suspend part of operations scheduled for early today near the sea shore at the plant in preparation for any waves, Jiji Press reported earlier.
In 1960, a 9.5-magnitude earthquake in Chile sent a tsunami across the Pacific that killed more than 140 people in Japan.
Indonesia also said it could be hit by a small tsunami from the quake off Chile, which killed at least six people and caused nearly a million to evacuate their homes along the coast.
Tsunami waves up to half a metre high “will possibly affect several areas in Indonesia”, said disaster agency spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho.
He said the first tsunami waves could arrive at around 0330 IST in the eastern region of Papua, and that authorities in 19 provinces of Indonesia had been alerted. (AFP)
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