Massive earthquakes hit northeastern Japan

A series of massive earthquakes struck northeastern Japan on Friday, generating tsunami that hit wide areas of the Pacific coast. The earthquakes reportedly caused many injuries, as well as building fires.

The Meteorological Agency says the initial quake struck at 2:46 PM Friday local time, off the coast of Miyagi Prefecture. The quake's estimated magnitude has been revised upward to 8.4.

Major tsunami alerts for waves of up to 10 meters have been issued from Hokkaido in the north, to Tokushima in the west.

In Miyagi Prefecture, the quake caused tremors with an intensity of 7 -- the maximum level on the Japanese scale of 0 to 7. Strong tremors were also felt in many parts of the country, including Tokyo.

At 3:06 PM, a 2nd quake with a magnitude of 7.0 struck almost the same area.

This was followed by a magnitude 7.4 quake at 3:15 PM.
That quake originated off the coast of Ibaraki Prefecture, south of the first 2 quakes.

The 4th quake measured a magnitude of 7.2 and struck off Miyagi at 3:26 PM.

A series of tsunami are presently washing ashore. NHK cameras show many cars and houses being swept away in Miyagi and neighboring prefectures. Fires can also be seen in many areas along the Pacific coast.

Friday, March 11, 2011 17:04 +0900 (JST)