Massive earthquake prompts tsunami warning for western coast in Japan

A powerful earthquake measuring 7.6 on the Japanese scale – the strongest on the Japanese scale – shook central Japan on the first day of the year 2024, ARY News reported, citing international news agencies.

According to the initial reports, a strong quake triggered a tsunami warning for the people residing on the western coast of Japan – including Ishikawa, Niigata, Toyama, and Yamagata, a prefecture on Japan’s Honshu Island – urging them to evacuate the area quickly, as over 1.2-meter waves reaching the Noto Peninsula’s Wajima Port in Ishikawa around 4:21 PM, a Japanese news outlet reported.

Following the initial quake, the warning was punctuated by several aftershocks, which registered an estimated magnitude of 7.6, struck the Noto Peninsula, with waves as high as five meters predicted to hit the area.

The Noto area experienced seven earthquakes, while 11 had been registered across all of Japan as of 5 PM.

The tsunami was also expected to hit Yamagata and Hyogo prefectures.

The major tsunami warning issued for the Noto Peninsula area was the top-level alert out of three warnings and was equal to one issued after the March 2011 quake in the Tohoku region.