Peninsula Daily News news sources
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TOKYO — A magnitude 8.9 earthquake slammed Japan’s eastern coast today (Thursday night Pacific time), unleashing a 13-foot tsunami that swept boats, cars, buildings and tons of debris miles inland.
Fires triggered by the quake burned out of control up and down the coast, including one at an oil refinery.
The quake’s epicenter was off the eastern coast of the island of Hokkaido, about 200 miles from Mutsu City, which is Port Angeles’ sister city. No reports have been received from Mutsu, but pictures from other cities in the prefecture show ships tossed ashore as if the huge vessels were toys.
Mutsu, which has a population of about 61,000 people, is the prefecture’s largest city in terms of area and sits on a bay north of the epicenter.
Port Townsend’s sister city, Ichikawa, is near Tokyo and likely felt the quake.
Sequim’s sister city, Shiso, is far southwest of the epicenter and unlikely to have suffered damage.
In Tokyo, about 250 miles southwest of the epicenter, at least one person was killed and there were reports of several injuries.
Japan’s meteorological agency said that within two hours, large tsunamis washed ashore into dozens of cities along a 1,300-mile stretch of the country’s eastern shore — from the northern island of Hokkaido to central Wakayama prefecture.
Prime Minister Naoto Kan said the quake caused “major damage in broad areas” but nuclear power plants in the area were not affected. The government prepared to send troops to the quake-hit areas.
“This is a rare major quake, and damages could quickly rise by the minute,” said Junichi Sawada, an official with Japan’s Fire and Disaster Management Agency.
TV footage showed waves of muddy waters sweeping over farmland near the city of Sendai, carrying buildings, some on fire, inland as cars attempted to drive away. Sendai airport, north of Tokyo, was inundated with cars, trucks, buses and thick mud deposited over its runways. Fires spread through a section of the city, public broadcaster NHK reported.
The tsunami also roared over embankments in Sendai city, washing cars, houses and farm equipment inland before reversing directions and carrying them out to sea. Flames shot from some of the houses, probably because of burst gas pipes.
Elsewhere, large fishing boats lay upturned on land, some distance from the sea.
Officials were trying to assess damage, injuries and deaths but had no immediate details. Police said at least one person was killed in a house collapse in Ibaraki prefecture, just northeast of Tokyo.
A large fire erupted at the Cosmo oil refinery in Ichihara city in Chiba prefecture near Tokyo and was burning out of control with 100-foot (30 meter) -high flames whipping into the sky.
NHK showed footage of a large ship being swept away by the tsunami and ramming directly into a breakwater in Kesennuma city in Miyagi prefecture.
In various locations along the coast, footage showed massive damage from the tsunami, with cars, boats and even buildings being carried along by waters. Partially submerged vehicles were seen bobbing in the water.
The U.S. Geological Survey said the quake was a magnitude 8.9, while Japan’s meteorological agency measured it at 8.4. It struck at 2:46 p.m. and was followed by 12 powerful aftershocks, seven of them at least 6.3, the size of the quake that struck New Zealand recently.
A tsunami warning was extended to a number of Pacific, Southeast Asian and Latin American nations, including Japan, Russia, Indonesia, New Zealand and Chile. In the Philippines, authorities said they expect a 3-foot high tsunami.
The quake struck at a depth of six miles (10 kilometers), about 80 miles off the eastern coast, the agency said.
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