Earthquake on the Noto Peninsula: Seismologists in Japan recorded more earthquakes in the first two days after the onset of 2024 than in the past three years. This is evidenced by statistics from the country’s national meteorological department. On the coast of Primorsky Krai, after a tsunami warning due to an earthquake in Japan, the maximum wave height reached 30 cm.
In the first two days of 2024, at least 521 earthquakes of varying strength occurred in Japan, the most powerful of which had a magnitude of 7.6. Moreover, between December 2020 and December 2023, 506 earthquakes were recorded in the country. According to the latest data, the number of victims of a series of earthquakes in Japan was 65, more than 100 people were injured. Ishikawa Prefecture, located closest to the epicenters of the tremors, suffered the greatest damage – more than 200 houses were destroyed there, and more than 200 buildings burned down as a result of the fires. At the same time, local authorities warn that the actual scale of destruction may be higher, since they are still being assessed. Currently, rescue and search operations are continuing in the affected region of Japan, in which the country’s armed forces are involved.
On January 1, a series of tremors occurred on the northern coast of the Japanese island of Honshu. The epicenter of the earthquake was on the Noto Peninsula, the source lay at a depth of 10 km, the magnitude was 6.1. A tsunami threat has been declared along the northwestern coast of Japan; according to the country’s weather agency, it is already off the coast. In Ishikawa Prefecture, waves reached 1.2 m, in the city of Toyama in the prefecture of the same name – 80 cm, in Kashiwazaki in Niigata Prefecture – 40 cm. Later, another earthquake of magnitude 5.7 was recorded in the country.
The number of victims of a series of earthquakes in the Japanese Ishikawa Prefecture has risen to 30, NHK TV channel reports, citing local authorities. Most of the victims were in the city of Wajima – 15 people. The tremors led to the destruction of buildings and a halt in the movement of high-speed trains; more than 32 thousand houses were left without electricity. In some regions there is a blackout of water supply and communications. Damage to the road surface was recorded. No malfunctions in the operation of the nuclear power plant were detected.
A tsunami threat was declared on Sakhalin due to a strong earthquake that occurred off the coast of Japan, RIA Novosti reports, citing the regional headquarters of the Ministry of Emergency Situations. The tsunami threat is caused by a series of powerful earthquakes that occurred in Ishikawa Prefecture in western Japan. According to updated data, the magnitude ranged from 4.3 to 7.6. Tsunami waves ranging in height from 50 centimeters to 1.2 meters have already been recorded off the coast of Japan. “Coastal parts of the western coast of Sakhalin may be affected by tsunami waves,” the publication said. In some areas, the warning system was turned on, and the population was evacuated to safe places. Ships in ports went out to the open sea.
At around 19:36 a wave of 0.3 meters in height was expected off the coast of Vladivostok. This is quite enough to turn the ice cover into mush and endanger the lives of fishermen. They were asked to quickly go ashore. In Primorye, waves reached 30 cm in height after a tsunami warning. In Vladivostok and Nakhodka they turned out to be even smaller, at a level of 10–20 cm. In Japan itself, meter waves were recorded. Primhydromet also published an image of sea level sensors, which show that the greatest wave activity is recorded in the area of the settlements of Preobrazhenie, Rudnaya Pristan and Sosunovo.
The consequences of the tsunami in Primorye were shown on video by a resident of the village of Preobrazhenie, where experts recorded a maximum wave height of 63 centimeters. A resident of the village published a video where the coast was literally “strewn” with large pieces of ice, there were also stones, and almost all the ice of the bay was broken. “It’s scary. Everyone was sleeping, no one saw, no one felt anything… I’ve never seen anything like this… here in Transfiguration… What boulders,” she commented on the video. Earlier, authorities reported that the tsunami wave after the earthquake in Japan did not lead to destruction on the Primorye coast.
