An earthquake hit Japan’s northeastern coast Monday and officials urged people to evacuate for higher ground after issuing tsunami warnings.
The Weather Channel reported it was a 7.4 magnitude earthquake while the BBC said it was a 7.7 magnitude quake.
Per the Weather Channel:
The epicenter of the quake was about 62 miles east-northeast of Miyako, off the coast of Sanriku, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. It happened around 4:53 p.m. local time (3:53 a.m. EDT), and tsunami warnings were issued for Iwate Prefecture, the central Pacific coastal area of Hokkaido Prefecture and the coastal area of Aomori Prefecture. There was a 5.6 aftershock less than an hour after the main quake.
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A tsunami of about 2.6 feet was detected at the Kuji port in the Iwate Prefecture, and a smaller tsunami of 1.3 feet was recorded at another port in the prefecture, Japan’s meteorological agency said.
The tsunami warnings have since been downgraded but Japan was still on high alert for aftershocks due the risk of an even bigger earthquake in the coming days, according to the BBC.
“It comes after thousands of people were urged to seek higher ground in the earthquake-prone country on Monday after a 7.7 magnitude quake struck off its north-east coast,” the outlet said. “The undersea activity off the Iwate prefecture triggered a string of tsunami warnings in the region and tremors as far away as the capital Tokyo, some 530km (330 miles) south.”
Aerial video footage showed waves swelling as they approached coastal areas:
Another clip caught the moment the earthquake hit, shaking cameras overlooking a residential area:
“Within hours of the quake officials issued an advisory for an increased risk of a possible ‘mega-quake.’ The Cabinet Office and the Japan Meteorological Agency said there is 1 percent chance for a mega-quake occurring on the northern Japanese coast in the next week or so,” the Weather Channel stated, adding people were advised to prepare emergency food and have a grab bag nearby as they went about their routines.
More video footage showed an office building in Tokyo swaying on the inside when the earthquake struck:
A tsunami is defined as a wave “triggered by large earthquakes that occur near or under the ocean, volcanic eruptions, submarine landslides, or by onshore landslides in which large volumes of debris fall into the water,” the USGS website read.
The site also described an earthquake as the reaction when two blocks of earth slide past one another along a fault plane.