Small waves reach Japan after Chile quake
Small waves have reached Japanese coast one day after a magnitude 8.3 earthquake hit Chile.
Japan’s Meteorological Agency said a wave of 70 centimeters (28 inches) was seen Friday in the port of Kuji in the Iwate prefecture, the area hit by the March 2011 disaster.
The agency issued a tsunami advisory earlier Friday for the Japanese coast on the Pacific side, from Hokkaido in the north to Okinawa in the south.
Agency official Yohei Hasegawa said the waves reached northern Japan first and were moving toward the southwest. He said the agency expects the swelling of the waves would continue for a while and could go as high as 1 meter (40 inches), and urged residents to stay away from the coast.
Smaller waves have been detected across the country. One up to 40 centimeters (16 inches) was recorded in Erimo on Hokkaido and another of up to 20 centimeters (8 inches) in Fukushima.
No injury or damages have been reported from the waves, but some coastal towns have issued evacuation advisories as a precautionary step.
The northern Japanese coasts, especially those in Iwate, have been affected by tsunami induced by earthquakes near Chile in the past. In 1960, a tsunami exceeding 5 meters (16 feet) hit the area, leaving 139 people dead. - AP