Pacific region on tsunami alert

A huge 8.3 magnitude earthquake off Japan’s northern coast sparked a tsunami warning today, sending thousands along the archipelago’s eastern coast fleeing to higher ground.

The The Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre said the waves could reach Hawaii’s shores just after midnight local time (10am Irish Time). It was expected to hit Alaska’s Dutch Harbour about an hour earlier.

The West Coast and Alaska Tsunami Warning Centre said it was not immediately known if a tsunami was generated. It issued a warning for the western Aleutians Islands from the villages of Nikolski to Adak and warned that people in low-lying coastal areas should remain alert to instructions from local emergency officials.

Adak is a community of 167 about 1,300 miles south west of Anchorage, Alaska. Nikolski is a village of 31 about 900 miles from Anchorage.

The warning centre issued a tsunami watch for the rest of the Aleutians and coastal areas along south-central Alaska to Seward.

Earlier Japan’s Meteorological Agency issued tsunami warnings following the quake. The agency said waves as high as 3.3 feet could hit the north-eastern coast of Japan’s northern island of Hokkaido.

Japan’s Meteorological Agency said waves as high as 3.3 feet could hit the north-eastern coast of the country’s main island of Hokkaido at around 2pm (5am Irish Time), but as the appointed time passed, most areas said there had been no visible changes to the sea level.

Noda Port in Iwate state in Hokkaido, however, reported a decline of about 8ins in the water surface and seismologists warned of the need for caution as the waves could still hit.

The quake struck at around 1.24pm (5.24am Irish Time) near the Kuril Trench, about 310 miles east of the Etorofu islands between northern Japan and Russia, at a depth of 19 miles below the seabed, the agency said.

The agency also issued weaker tsunami warnings to dozens of cities as far as the western region of Japan’s main island of Honshu.

Public broadcaster NHK said there were no visible changes to the sea level as the predicted tsunami arrival time passed. The agency also warned that 1.65ft waves could hit western Japan at around 4pm (7am Irish Time).

Local authorities along Hokkaido’s coast have ordered residents living along the northern and eastern coasts of Japan’s northern main island of Hokkaido to evacuate to higher ground.

Temblors of magnitude 7 are generally classified as major earthquakes, capable of widespread, heavy damage.

The meteorological agency also issued warnings last November following a magnitude 7.9 quake in a similar area, but most areas saw waves of only about 7.8ins.

Seismologists, however, warned that this time the quake was stronger and cautioned residents to remain vigilant.

Tokyo University seismologist Yoshinobu Tsuji warned that high waves may still hit the region, hours after a tsunami warning.

Citing declining sea levels being observed in some locations, Tsuji said “we should assume it’s coming”.

Tsunami waves – generated by earthquakes – are often barely noticeable in the ocean but can rise to great heights once they arrive at shore.

The earthquake off the coast of Indonesia on St Stephen's Day 2004 that caused the tsunami that killed at least 213,000 people in 11 countries had a magnitude of 9.1.