Warning for Ishikawa prefecture issued after earthquake hits the Noto region
Japan, Dec 01: A massive earthquake, measuring 7.6 on the Richter scale, has jolted Ishikawa in central Japan, setting off alarm bells with a tsunami warning and urgent advisories for folks to hightail it out of there and brace themselves for potential aftershocks. Picture this: a 1-meter-high (that’s 3.3 feet for the metrically challenged) tsunami has already made a splash along the Sea of Japan’s west coast, but there’s a bigger wave looming on the horizon, as per the latest update from the spirited broadcasters at NHK on a Monday that no one in Ishikawa will soon forget.
In the aftermath of the quake that rumbled through the Noto region around 4:10 pm local time, NHK, with all the urgency of a superhero summoning the masses, declared, “All residents must evacuate pronto to higher ground!” Meanwhile, another earthquake warning echoed for Ishikawa, keeping everyone on their toes. The stakes are high, with US and Japanese agencies warning of potentially hazardous tsunami waves reaching up to 5 meters (a towering 16.4 feet) along the north coast of central Japan within 300 km (that’s 186 miles) of the quake’s epicenter.
As the dust settles, government bigwig Yoshimasa Hayashi steps into the spotlight in an emergency news conference, acknowledging that the damage assessment is still in the works. Brace yourselves, he cautions residents, for the possibility of more seismic surprises. NHK footage, akin to scenes from a Hollywood disaster flick, captures buildings doing the cha-cha in Ishikawa, while tremors play havoc with structures in the far-off capital, Tokyo.
Lights out for over 36,000 households in Ishikawa and Toyama prefectures, according to Hokuriku Electric Power, but, breathe easy, says Japan’s Nuclear Regulation Authority—no nuclear power plants along the Sea of Japan are showing any funky business, including those at Kansai Electric Power’s Ohi and Takahama plants. Even the Shika plant in Ishikawa, cozying up to the quake’s epicenter, had the good sense to hit pause on its reactors for a regular checkup before the temblor struck, emerging unscathed. Over in South Korea’s Gangwon province, they’re keeping an eye on the sea level, suggesting a sequel of sorts to this seismic drama.
Japan, no stranger to the earth’s tectonic tantrums, finds itself in the crosshairs once again. Memories of the cataclysmic 2011 earthquake and tsunami, which claimed nearly 20,000 lives and ushered in nuclear chaos in Fukushima, cast a long shadow over this latest chapter in the nation’s seismic saga.
