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Japan issued a string of tsunami warnings after a powerful earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 7.6 struck the west coast on Monday, triggering widespread blackouts and evacuations during New Year celebrations.
The Japan Meteorological Agency issued a major tsunami warning for Ishikawa prefecture in central Japan, the highest level of alert issued since the devastating tsunami in 2011 that disabled the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant.
Other lower level warnings were issued for neighbouring coastal prefectures in Niigata and Toyama with the tsunami expected to reach as high as five metres, according to public broadcaster NHK.
The earthquake affected several nuclear power plants in the region including Tokyo Electric Power’s Kashiwazaki-Kariwa plant in Niigata prefecture. But an official at Japan’s Nuclear Regulation Authority said it had not detected abnormalities in radioactivity levels at the plants.
The initial quake, which hit during the late afternoon, was followed by a series of powerful aftershocks, and the country’s meteorological agency warned of more big shocks in the coming days.
Nearly 32,000 homes lost power in Ishikawa prefecture, according to Hokuriku Electric Power Company, while TV footage on Japanese media showed a large fire breaking out in the prefecture’s Wajima city and collapsed buildings.
In South Korea, officials in the country’s eastern Gangwon province urged residents living near the coast to evacuate to higher ground, after South Korea’s meteorological agency warned of rising sea levels as a result of the tsunami.
Additional reporting by Christian Davies in Seoul