The strong and numerous earthquakes that struck central Japan on Monday killed at least six people and caused significant property damage, according to local police, while a tsunami that struck afterward remained of low magnitude.
The largest of these earthquakes, which struck just after 4:00 p.m. (07:00 GMT) in Ishikawa Department on Monday, was rated at magnitude 7.5 by the American Institute of Geophysics (USGS) and a magnitude 7.5 by the Japan Meteorological Agency Magnitude 7.6 recorded (JMA).
This violent shock, which was clearly felt as far away as Tokyo, more than 300 km away as the crow flies, led to a tsunami on the coast of the Sea of Japan on Monday, forcing many residents to flee and seek refuge in higher areas as quickly as possible . . Fortunately, the waves remained low, although the JMA initially declared a maximum alert level: they were measured at 1.2 meters in the port of Wajima on the Noto Peninsula at the northern tip of Ishikawa department.
The tsunami risk level was then downgraded and then permanently raised by the JMA at 10:00 a.m. (01:00 GMT) on Tuesday.
Ishikawa department was hit by 155 earthquakes between 4:00 p.m. Monday and 9:00 a.m. Tuesday (00:00 GMT Tuesday), most of them with a magnitude greater than 3.0, the same agency reported.
The earthquakes caused “numerous deaths” and significant property damage as buildings collapsed and fires broke out, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said on Tuesday. “We have to race against time” to save lives, he added.