New Delhi: In a spate of devastating natural disasters, Japan and Taiwan were hit by major earthquakes, prompting widespread concern and swift action by authorities. Japan issued an evacuation warning for coastal areas of Okinawa after a strong earthquake also hit Taiwan, threatening a three-meter tsunami.
The Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) has issued a warning after a magnitude 7.5 aftershock was detected near Taiwan, a shallow earthquake that could have a major impact on sea levels and trigger a devastating tsunami. The first of these 30cm waves reached Unagoni Island at 9:18 a.m. (00:18 GMT), confirming concerns and underscoring the urgency of the warning.
The series of seismic events highlights the vulnerability of Japan, a country where about a fifth of all earthquakes of magnitude 6 or greater occur worldwide. The commemoration comes after Japan’s worst earthquake in eight years, which killed more than 230 people in Ishikawa Prefecture on New Year’s Day.
March 11, 2011 remains a turning point in Japan’s history as the strongest earthquake on record, the worst since Chernobyl, triggered a massive tsunami and the subsequent nuclear crisis in Fukushima. This is the day when
The earthquake also caused tremors in Taiwan, with buildings collapsing in the city of Hualien and the capital Taipei.
The Taiwan Earthquake Monitoring Agency reported a magnitude of 7.2 on the Richter scale, slightly different from the US Geological Survey’s 7.5 on the Richter scale. This contradiction does little to mitigate the immediate threat of the earthquake and resulting tsunami, as Japanese authorities have no regard for the safety of Okinawa’s coastal residents.