The earthquake in Japan claimed at least 48 lives and devastated the nation. The main island of Honshu’s Ishikawa prefecture was rocked by a 7.5 magnitude earthquake that also caused tsunami waves that rose more than a metre. However, the government has lifted all warnings of tsunami. According to officials, the earthquake may have caused land in the Noto region to shift by up to 1.3 metres westward after GPS data was examined by Japan’s Geospatial Information Authority (GSI).
Preliminary data from a Wajima City observation point shows that the Ishikawa region saw the largest shift, with Anamizu town seeing a shift of about 1 m and Suzu city seeing an 80 cm shift westward.
Japan Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said, “Very extensive damage has been confirmed, including numerous casualties, building collapses and fires. We have to race against time to search for and rescue victims of the disaster.”
Early on Tuesday, police and local authorities reported that some people were still trapped while bodies were being removed from the debris of collapsed buildings. The nation’s relatively remote Noto peninsula is home to the worst-hit area, where 1,000 army personnel have been sent. However, rescue efforts have been hampered by severely damaged and blocked roads, and one of the area’s airports has been forced to close owing to runway cracks.
155 quakes, the most powerful being a 7.5 magnitude, struck on the west coast of Japan’s main island on Monday and shook buildings in Tokyo, around 300km away. The epicentre of the quake was on the peninsula, which protrudes into the Sea of Japan.
