TOKYO, Japan – The United States Geological Survey reported a 5.6-magnitude earthquake near Japan’s remote Izu Islands on Tuesday, prompting local weather authorities to issue a tsunami warning.
According to the Japan Meteorological Agency, a one-meter (3.3-inch) tsunami could hit the Izu Islands at 8:30 a.m. (2330 GMT) and the Ogasawara Islands at 9:00 a.m. (0000 GMT).
Residents on the island told national station NHK that they felt nothing during the earthquake.
Japan sits on top of four major tectonic plates and experiences over 1,500 quakes every year, the majority of which are mild.
Even with stronger tremors, the impact is often limited due to improved construction methods and well-practiced emergency procedures.
Small tsunamis hit Japan’s Izu Islands after the earthquake
According to the weather agency, a 5.6-magnitude earthquake struck near the Izu Islands group, causing a modest tsunami on the remote Japanese island of Hachijojima.
Waves of 50 centimetres (20 inches) slammed Hachijojima at 9 a.m. (0000 GMT), after the Japan Meteorological Agency issued a tsunami warning for the area south of Tokyo.
The small tsunami was observed approximately 45 minutes after the earthquake and had a shallow depth of 11.7 kilometers (seven miles), according to the United States Geological Survey.
The JMA reported that on Miyakejima Island, an even smaller tsunami wave of 10 cm was registered.
Approximately 25,000 people live on small Pacific islands south of Tokyo.
Some locals told NHK that they didn’t feel the earthquake, and there were no initial reports of damage.
According to the JMA, minor changes to the ocean surface may occur along Japan’s wide Pacific coastline, which stretches from Chiba near Tokyo to Okinawa near Taiwan, following the earthquake.
Japan rests on four major tectonic plates and experiences over 1,500 earthquakes every year, the majority of which are mild.
Even with larger tremors, modern building techniques and well-practiced emergency protocols keep the impact to a minimum.
However, the government estimates that a potential mega-quake with a magnitude of 8-9 has a 70% chance of occurring within the next 30 years.
Experts believe it could disrupt a broad area of the Pacific coastline and endanger an estimated 300,000 lives in the worst-case scenario.
In 2011, a massive 9.0-magnitude underwater earthquake off northeastern Japan generated a tsunami that killed or left around 18,500 people missing.
It melted three reactors at the Fukushima nuclear facility, resulting in Japan’s biggest postwar calamity and the most devastating nuclear accident since Chernobyl.#
