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Japan lifts tsunami alert after earthquake
Small tsunami waves hit Japan's northernmost island late on Wednesday after a major quake in the north Pacific triggered a full-scale tsunami warning for areas of northern Japan and Russia's sparsely populated Kurile islands.
- Reuters
- Published: 00:00 November 16, 2006
Tokyo: Small tsunami waves hit Japan's northernmost island late on Wednesday after a major quake in the north Pacific triggered a full-scale tsunami warning for areas of northern Japan and Russia's sparsely populated Kurile islands.
An initial tsunami of 40cm came ashore near Nemuro on the Pacific coast of Hokkaido island, just before 10pm (5pm UAE), nearly two hours after the estimated 8.1 magnitude quake. Other waves of 10cm to 20cm were also recorded.
There were no immediate reports of more significant waves either in Japan or in the Kuriles, and Japan's meteorological agency said tsunami warnings were lifted at 6.32pm UAE time. Initially, Hokkaido officials had issued predictions of a tsunami 1 to 2 metres high.
Japanese officials had urged thousands of people to move to higher ground, with emergency authorities taking to the streets to spread the warning.
Authorities on the Russian island of Sakhalin said the quake struck near uninhabited islands at the centre of the Kurile chain, which stretches northeast from Hokkaido to the Kamchatka peninsula.
The site of the quake was roughly 1,700km northeast of Tokyo. Russian authorities said the tremor struck 130km east of Simushir island.
"We have been repeatedly urging people to evacuate. We did not feel an earthquake," Yasukatsu Imai, a Nemuro official, told NHK public television.
Russian emergency services went on high alert and evacuated a small settlement, but no tsunami had been reported by 5.30pm UAE.
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