Small tsunami waves hit Japan after quake

January 13, 2007


TOKYO (Reuters) - Small tsunami waves hit northern and eastern Japan on Saturday after a powerful north Pacific earthquake prompted tsunami warnings across northern and eastern Japan and Russia, as well as Alaska.
Tsunami watches were also issued for parts of the Pacific, a region that is nervous about tsunami two years after a deadly wave off Aceh in Indonesia killed more than 230,000 people. The watches included Guam, Taiwan, the Philippines and Hawaii.
A 40 cm wave was reported at Chichijima in the Ogasawara islands, some 1,200 km south of Tokyo, and several smaller waves on Hokkaido and northern Japan, but there were no reports of injuries and no immediate reports of damage.
Japan later downgraded the tsunami warning to a "watch". It had earlier issued evacuation advisories for tens of thousands of households in the country.
The USGS (U.S. Geological Survey) put the quake magnitude at 7.9, a "major" tremor, and said its epicentre was 525 km east northeast of Kuril'sk, Kurile islands, and 1,710 km northeast of Tokyo.
The same area was struck by a powerful quake in November, prompting evacuations and tsunami warnings, but in the end only small waves -- the highest 40 cm -- reached Japan.
An official in Russia's Emergencies Ministry told Reuters that the threat of a tsunami had passed.
"Half-past eight, nine o' clock Moscow time (0530-0600 GMT) was the approximate time the threat of a tsunami was due to appear. That time passed, and the threat did not materialise. Everything is normal," the official said.