Japan earthquakes: US agency says Tsunami threat has 'largely passed'

Japan's Defence Minister, Kihara Minoru, has issued orders on Monday (Jan 1) for Self-Defence Force personnel to conduct rescue operations in areas impacted by earthquakes, as reported by NHK, the local media broadcaster. Minister Minoru clarified that the ministry had not yet received a formal request for a disaster relief mission.

An official from the Japan Meteorological Agency said that tsunamis are still being recorded in the country.

The official requested people residing in earthquake-hit areas to remain cautious, and stay put in safe areas, as reported by Reuters.

No irregularities have been detected at nuclear power plants, Japanese government spokesman Yoshimasa Hayashi said at an emergency press conference. 

Utilities provider Hokuriku Electric Power's Shika plant in Ishikawa prefecture, the closest facility to the quake’s epicentre, was among those reporting no damage, Hayashi said.

Hayashi added that the authorities were still checking the extent of damage and warned residents to prepare for possible further quakes.

NHK reported that an official at a hospital in Suzu City in the prefecture said that people injured in the earthquake have been transported there. Meanwhile, some doctors have been unable to reach the hospital as roads have been damaged. 

The official also says the hospital is operating with a spare generator as power has been cut. 

Reuters reported that snowboarder Johnny Wu said as soon as he read the Japan earthquake alert on his phone snow started falling off the roofs, everything was shaking and people ran out of a restaurant on the other side of the road. 

Wu, a 50-year-old Taiwanese who lives in Shanghai, China, said he was waiting for a shuttle bus after a day on the mountain in Nagano, Japan, when the quake struck.

He said he was used to earthquakes, coming from Taiwan, but was still worried about aftershocks.

The tsunami threat from a powerful earthquake that struck central Japan on Monday has "largely passed", a US agency said, after waves over a metre high had earlier hit some areas.

"The tsunami threat has now largely passed," the Hawaii-based Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said.

A professor emeritus at the University of Tokyo warned that the risk from strong tremors and tsunami continued in Japan, a report by NHK said. Professor Hirata Naoshi said that people who evacuated should not return to their homes until the warnings were lifted.

A subway station in Japan's Ishikawa prefecture was flooded following the earthquake. A video shared by the news agency Reuters showed people leaving the station quickly as water accumulated. 

Major telecom companies in Japan are allowing people to check whether a person is safe in the aftermath of Monday's earthquake, NHK reported. 

Japan's Meteorological Agency said on Monday that a succession of 21 earthquakes registering 4.0 magnitude or stronger struck central Japan in just over 90 minutes. The strongest jolt measured 7.6, it said.

More than 33,000 households in Toyama, Ishikawa and Niigata prefectures were facing power cuts due to the series of earthquakes. 

Major highways were closed around the epicentre of a series of major earthquakes in central Japan on Monday, the country's road operator said.

Residents in central Japan have been asked to evacuate immediately and prepare for possible aftershocks, a report by the news agency Reuters said. 

The Japanese government said that no abnormalities were reported in nuclear plants after the country's central region was rocked by the earthquake.

"It has been confirmed that there are no abnormalities at Shika nuclear power plant (in Ishikawa) and other stations as of now," government spokesperson Yoshimasa Hayashi said, the news agency AFP reported. 

The first tsunami waves have hit the country, the news agency AFP reported citing the meteorological agency.

Earlier, US and Japanese agencies said that hazardous waves of up to five metres were possible along the north coast of central Japan.

"Hazardous tsunami waves from this earthquake are possible within 300 km of the epicenter along the coasts of Japan," the Hawaii-based Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said. 

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Japanese authorities on Monday issued tsunami warnings for the coastal prefectures of Ishikawa, Niigata, and Toyama, following the massive earthquake in the country's central region.