Japan Earthquake, Tsunami Update: Devastation All Round HD 

 

Japan was reeling Friday after an 8.9 magnitude earthquake - the worst in its history - hit the northeast of the country, causing many injuries, fires and a 12m tsunami along parts of the coastline.

Japan's Pacific coast was badly affected with the northern region expecting a significant number of casualties and a tsunami warnings issued by several countries including Russia, Indonesia, Mexico and Taiwan.

Naoto Kan, Japan's prime minister, appealing for calm. He said: "People in Japan should exercise the spirit of solidarity and act fast. We ask you to act in such a way to minimise the damage."

Reports mentioned oil storage tanks catching fire in Sendai, the closest large city to the quake's epicentre, while the tsunami flooded the airport. On the outskirts of the city, television helicopters captured a vast moving blanket of water, mud, debris, cars and unmoored houses - some of them on fire - spreading across rice fields.

The quake struck at a depth of 10 kilometres, about 125 kilometres off the eastern coast. The area is 380 kilometres northeast of Tokyo.

Residents of several districts close to the affected cities and towns in Miyagi and Aomori were ordered to leave their homes, with the governor of Miyagi prefecture, where Sendai is located, requesting for soldiers to be deployed to assist rescue efforts.

The quake was strongly felt in Tokyo, where there were isolated reports of mostly superficial damage. Officials were trying to assess damage, injuries and deaths from the quake but had no immediate details.

Thousands of people in Tokyo where the quake was strongly felt, milled in parks fled from buildings to squares and higher land. Transport systems were brought to a standstill and mobile phone service failed

Soon after the first earthquake, there were 24 other significant aftershocks of at least 5.4 magnitude, which continued to cause damage and shake buildings.

Thirty minutes after the quake, tall buildings were still swaying in Tokyo and mobile phone networks were not working. Japan's Coast Guard has set up task force and officials are standing by for emergency contingencies.

There have been casualties but precise figures of dead and injured are not yet available. About six people were reported killed in an incident in northern Japan where a dozen elderly people were believed to have been trapped under the collapsed roof of a nursing.

The quake struck at a depth of 10 kilometres, about 125 kilometres off the eastern coast. The area is 380 kilometres northeast of Tokyo.

The powerful earthquakes measuring a magnitude of 8.8, that hit north-east Japan Friday afternoon, at 2:46 pm local time (around 6.46 a.m. CET), shook buildings in Tokyo and the surrounding cities ad triggering warnings of tsunami with waves of as high as seven to 10 metres. It was Japan's biggest quake for seven years

Within 30 minutes of the first shocks, the same region was rocked by two more big quakes of slightly lower intensity, Japanese news reported.

Japan is one of the most seismically active countries in the world, accounting for about 20% of the world's earthquakes of magnitude 6 or greater.

The Pacific tsunami warning centre in Hawaii said earlier a tsunami warning was in effect for Japan, Russia, Marcus Island and the Northern Marianas. A tsunami watch was also issued for Guam, Taiwan, the Philippines, Indonesia, Hawaii, parts of Australia and New Zealand.