STORY TO BE TOLD

Major tsunami damage in N Japan after 8.9 quake
Published: Friday March 11, 2011 MYT 2:16:00 PM
Updated: Friday March 11, 2011 MYT 9:06:59 PM

TOKYO (AP) - A powerful tsunami spawned by the largest earthquake in Japan's recorded history slammed the eastern coast Friday, sweeping away boats, cars, homes and people as widespread fires burned out of control.

Authorities said at least 60 people were killed and many more missing.

The magnitude 8.9 offshore quake was followed by at least 19 aftershocks, most of them of more than magnitude 6.0.

Dozens of cities and villages along a 1,300-mile (2,100-kilometer) stretch of coastline were shaken by violent tremors that reached as far away as Tokyo, hundreds of miles (kilometers) from the epicenter.

A tsunami warning was issued for the entire Pacific, including areas as far away as South America, the entire U.S. West Coast, Canada and Alaska.

Japan's Fire and Disaster Management Agency said at least 32 people were killed.

A utility company in northeastern Japan reported a fire in a turbine building of nuclear power plant.

"The earthquake has caused major damage in broad areas in northern Japan," Prime Minister Naoto Kan said at a news conference.

Even for a country used to earthquakes, this one was of horrific proportions. It unleashed a 23-foot (7-meter) tsunami that swept boats, cars, buildings and tons of debris miles inland.

Large fishing boats and other sea vessels rode high waves into the cities, slamming against overpasses.

Upturned and partially submerged vehicles were seen bobbing in the water.

Waves of muddy waters swept over farmland near the city of Sendai, carrying buildings, some on fire, inland as cars attempted to drive away.

Sendai airport, north of Tokyo, was inundated with cars, trucks, buses and thick mud deposited over its runways. Fires spread through a section of the city, public broadcaster NHK reported.

The tsunami roared over embankments, washing anything in its path inland before reversing directions and carrying the cars, homes and other debris out to sea. Flames shot from some of the houses, probably because of burst gas pipes.

"Our initial assessment indicates that there has already been enormous damage," Chief government spokesman Yukio Edano said. "We will make maximum relief effort based on that assessment."

He said the Defense Ministry was sending troops to the quake-hit region. A utility aircraft and several helicopters were on the way.

A large fire erupted at the Cosmo oil refinery in Ichihara city in Chiba prefecture near Tokyo and was burning out of control with 100-foot (30 meter) -high flames whipping into the sky.

In northeastern Japan's Miyagi prefecture, a fire broke out in a turbine building of a nuclear power plant.

Smoke was observed coming out of the building, which is separate from the plant's reactor, and the cause is under investigation, said Tohoku Electric Power Co. the company said.

There have been no reports of radioactive leaks or injuries, the company said. Several nuclear plants elsewhere along the coast were also partially shut down, with no reports of leakage.

Also from Miyagi prefecture, NHK showed footage of a large ship being swept away and ramming directly into a breakwater in Kesennuma city.

The U.S. Geological Survey said the 2:46 p.m. quake was a magnitude 8.9, the biggest earthquake to hit Japan since officials began keeping records in the late 1800s.

A tsunami warning was extended to a number of Pacific, Southeast Asian and Latin American nations, including Japan, Russia, Indonesia, New Zealand and Chile.

In the Philippines, authorities said they expect a 3-foot (1-meter) high tsunami.

The quake struck at a depth of six miles (10 kilometers), about 80 miles (125 kilometers) off the eastern coast, the agency said. The area is 240 miles (380 kilometers) northeast of Tokyo.

In downtown Tokyo, large buildings shook violently and workers poured into the street for safety. TV footage showed a large building on fire and bellowing smoke in the Odaiba district of Tokyo.

The tremor bent the upper tip of the iconic Tokyo Tower, a 333-meter (1,093-foot) steel structure inspired by the Eiffel Tower in Paris.

In central Tokyo, trains were stopped and passengers walked along the tracks to platforms. NHK said more than 4 million buildings were without power in Tokyo and its suburbs.

Large numbers of people waited at Tokyo's Shinjuku station, the world's busiest train station, for service to resume so they could go home.

TV announcers urged workers not to leave their offices to prevent injuries in case of more strong aftershocks.

Osamu Akiya, 46, was working in Tokyo at his office in a trading company when the quake hit.

It sent bookshelves and computers crashing to the floor, and cracks appeared in the walls.

"I've been through many earthquakes, but I've never felt anything like this," he said. "I don't know if we'll be able to get home tonight."

Footage on NHK from their Sendai office showed employees stumbling around and books and papers crashing from desks.

It also showed a glass shelter at a bus stop in Tokyo completely smashed by the quake and a weeping woman nearby being comforted by another woman.

Several quakes had hit the same region in recent days, including a 7.3 magnitude one on Wednesday.

Hiroshi Sato, a disaster management official in northern Iwate prefecture, said officials were having trouble getting an overall picture of the carnage.

"We don't even know the extent of damage. Roads were badly damaged and cut off as tsunami washed away debris, cars and many other things," he said.

Tokyo's main airport was closed. A large section of the ceiling at the 1-year-old airport at Ibaraki, about 50 miles (80 kilometers) northeast of Tokyo, fell to the floor with a powerful crash.

Dozens of fires were reported in northern prefectures of Fukushima, Sendai, Iwate and Ibaraki. Collapsed homes and landslides were also reported in Miyagi.

Japan's worst previous quake was in 1923 in Kanto, an 8.3-magnitude temblor that killed 143,000 people, according to USGS. A 7.2-magnitude quake in Kobe city in 1996 killed 6,400 people.

Japan lies on the "Ring of Fire" - an arc of earthquake and volcanic zones stretching around the Pacific where about 90 percent of the world's quakes occur, including the one that triggered the Dec. 26, 2004, Indian Ocean tsunami that killed an estimated 230,000 people in 12 nations.

A magnitude-8.8 temblor that shook central Chile last February also generated a tsunami and killed 524 people.

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Causes and consequences of earthquake

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Tsunami warning for many Pacific nations

HONOLULU: The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center in Hawaii widened its tsunami warning to include most of the Pacific Ocean region Friday after a massive earthquake struck off the northeastern coast of Japan.

It includes Russia, the Philippines, Papua New Guinea, Hawaii, Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific coast of South America but does not include North America.

Sirens were sounded in Honolulu alerting people in coastal areas to evacuate to higher ground.

Tsunami warnings are issued due to the imminent threat of a tsunami.

In the Philippines, officials have ordered an evacuation of coastal communities along the country's eastern seaboard in expectation of a tsunami with the first meter-high waves expected to hit the northernmost Batanes islands by 5pm Philippine time.

More to come:

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Sabah, Labuan residents told to avoid coastal areas but no tsunami alert

KUALA LUMPUR: Sabah and Labuan residents have been advised to stay away from the coast due to rough seas and high sea level expected to occur between 6pm and midnight Friday but no tsunami warning was issued.

Malaysian Meteorological Department issued the reminder following the strong earthquake which hit northeast of Japan this afternoon.

The 8.9-magnitude earthquake hit the northeast coast of Honshu, Japan at 1.46pm, at 4,434km north-east of Kudat, Sabah. The earthquake triggered a tsunami in Japan.

However, no tsunami warning was issued for Malaysia. - Bernama

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Sabah, Labuan residents told to avoid coastal areas

Malaysian Meteorological Department issued the reminder following the strong earthquake which hit northeast of Japan this afternoon. However, no tsunami warning issued for Malaysia.

KUALA LUMPUR: Sabah and Labuan residents have been advised to stay away from the coast due to rough seas and high sea level expected to occur between 6pm and midnight tonight.

Malaysian Meteorological Department issued the reminder following the strong earthquake which hit northeast of Japan this afternoon.


The 8.9-magnitude earthquake hit the northeast coast of Honshu, Japan at 1.46pm, at 4,434km north-east of Kudat, Sabah.

The earthquake triggered a tsunami in Japan.

However, no tsunami warning issued for Malaysia.

-- BERNAMA

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Shortage of boats slows aid for Indonesia tsunami

MENTAWAI ISLANDS, Indonesia (AP) - A shortage of boats is slowing delivery of tons of food, water and blankets in the remote Indonesian islands hit hardest by a tsunami that killed more than 400 people and crushed entire villages, an official said Friday.

On the main island of Java, a volcano that killed 33 people this week erupted five more times Friday, sending searing clouds of ash cascading down its slopes but no more casualties were reported.

Dozens of injured survivors of the tsunami languished at a sorely strapped hospital alongside a newly orphaned 2-month-old baby found in a storm drain.

The injured lay on mats or the bare floor as rainwater dripped onto them from holes in the ceiling and intravenous cords hung from plastic ropes strung from the rafters.

The baby, its lungs filled with fluid and with cuts on its face, blinked sleepily in a humidified crib.

"We need doctors, specialists," nurse Anputra said at the tiny hospital in Pagai Utara - one of the four main islands in the Mentawai chain slammed by Monday's tsunami.

A relief coordinator acknowledged Friday that aid was being held up.

Suryadi, who is coordinating the aid response from West Sumatra, said tons of aid has reached the main towns on the worst-hit islands by helicopter, after rough seas kept boats away for two days.

However, rescue workers say they can't deliver that aid to further-flung coastal villages that are accessible only by foot or by sea because roads are too old or damaged for large trucks.

"We need more boats," Suryadi said. He could not estimate how many boats are now delivering aid, but most of the islands' craft would have been washed away by the wave and helicopters have no place to land in many of the devastated villages.

The toll from the tsunami and the 7.7-magnitude earthquake beneath the Indian Ocean that spawned it rose to 408 on Friday as officials found more bodies, and 303 people were still missing and feared swept out to sea, said Agus Prayitno of the West Sumatra provincial disaster management center.

Along with the 33 people killed by a volcano that erupted Tuesday more than 800 miles (1,300 kilometers) to the east in central Java, the number of dead from Indonesia's twin disasters this week has now reached 441.

After a lull that allowed mourners to hold a mass burial for victims, Mount Merapi rumbled with three small eruptions Thursday and five early Friday - easing pressure and possibly making another big eruption less likely. There were no reports of new injuries or damage.

The catastrophes struck within 24 hours in different parts of the seismically active country, severely testing Indonesia's emergency response network.

Aid workers trickling into the remote earthquake- and tsunami-struck region found giant chunks of coral and rocks in places where homes once stood.

Huge swaths of land were submerged. Swollen corpses dotted roads and beaches.

At the hospital on Pagai Utara, 35-year-old Sarifinus cradled his 5-year-old son, Dimas, who screamed as medical staff tended to his broken arm.

The man described how, when the towering wall of water came, he grabbed his two other young sons and ran toward the mountain. The wave tore both from his arms and sucked them away.

Sarifinus and his wife, Martina, who sat staring blankly in a corner of the hospital, found Dimas alive after the waters receded. One of the hardest-hit areas with 65 dead was the village of Pro Rogat on Pagai Seatandug island.

Villagers there huddled under tarps in the rain and told how many people who had fled to the hills were now too afraid to return home.

Mud and palm fronds covered the body of the village's 60-year-old pastor, Simorangkir. He lay on the ground, partially zipped into a body bag. Police and relatives took turns pushing a shovel into the sodden dirt next to him for his grave.

"Everybody here is so sad," his 28-year-old grandson, Rio, said as relatives prepared to lay the pastor in the grave.

At the Mount Merapi volcano, hot clouds of ash spewed from the mountain at 6:10 a.m., 8:40 a.m. and 11:19 a.m. Friday, according to Subandriyo, a senior government volcanologist.

The activity appeared to be easing pressure behind a lava dome that has formed in the crater, said Safari Dwiyono, a scientist who has been monitoring Merapi for 15 years.

"If the energy continues to release little by little like this, it reduces the chances of having a bigger, powerful eruption," he said.

Residents from Kinahrejo, Ngrangkah, and Kaliadem - villages that were devastated in Tuesday's blast - crammed into refugee camps.

Officials brought cows, buffalo and goats down the mountain so that villagers wouldn't try to go home to check on their livestock.

Thousands attended a mass burial for 26 of the victims six miles (10 kilometers) from the base of the volcano.

Family and friends wept and hugged one another as the bodies were lowered into the grave in rows.

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Indonesia hit by deadly tsunami, volcanic eruption

MOUNT MERAPI, Indonesia (AP): A volcanic eruption and a tsunami killed scores of people hundreds of miles apart in Indonesia - spasms from the Pacific "Ring of Fire," which spawns disasters from deep within the Earth.

Tuesday's eruption of Mount Merapi killed at least 18 people, forced thousands to flee down its slopes and spewed burning ash and smoke high into the air on the island of Java.

Meanwhile, off the coast of Sumatra, about 800 miles (1,300 kilometers) west of the volcano, rescuers battled rough seas to reach Indonesia's Mentawai islands, where a 10-foot tsunami triggered by an earthquake Monday night swept away hundreds of homes, killing at least 113 villagers, said Mujiharto of the Health Ministry's crisis center. Up to 500 others are missing.

The twin disasters happened hours apart in one of the most seismically active regions on the planet.

Scientists have warned that pressure building beneath Merapi's lava dome could trigger its most powerful explosion in years.

But Gede Swantika, a government volcanologist, expressed hope the 9,737-foot (2,968-meter) mountain, which sent rocks and debris cascading down its southern slope, could be releasing steam slowly.

"It's too early to know for sure," he said, adding that a big blast could still be coming. "But if it continues like this for a while, we are looking at a slow, long eruption."

A 2006 eruption at Merapi killed two people, one in 1994 killed 60 people, and a 1930 blast killed 1,300.

After refusing to budge from the volcano's fertile slopes, saying they wanted to tend to their crops and protect their homes, villagers started streaming by the thousands into makeshift emergency shelters late Tuesday. Many carried sleeping mats, bags of clothes and food as they settled in.

Officials said earlier that by closely monitoring the volcano 310 miles (500 kilometers) southeast of the capital of Jakarta, they thought they could avoid casualties. But the death toll rose quickly.

Police and volunteers were shown on Metro TV pulling at least 14 ash-covered bodies and carrying them to waiting vehicles.

Among the dead was a 2-month-old baby, said Mareta, a hospital worker who goes by only one name. The infant's tiny body was draped in a sheet as his mother cried.

Three people at Panti Nugroho hospital died of burns after being hit by a searing cloud of ash, said Agustinus Parjo, a spokesman.

Even as they contended with the volcano - one of 129 to watch in the world's largest archipelago - officials were trying to assess the impact of Monday night's 7.7-magnitude earthquake off Sumatra that triggered the killer tsunami.

The quake, just 13 miles (20 kilometers) beneath the ocean floor, was followed by at least 14 aftershocks, the largest measuring 6.2, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

The fault also caused the 2004 quake and monster Indian Ocean tsunami that killed 230,000 people in a dozen countries.

After Monday's quake and tsunami, many panicked residents fled to high ground and were too afraid to return home.

That could account in part for the more than 500 people still missing, said Hendri Dori, a local parliamentarian, adding: "We're trying to stay hopeful."

Hundreds of wooden and bamboo homes were washed away on the island of Pagai, with water flooding crops and roads up to 600 yards (meters) inland. In Muntei Baru, a village on Silabu island, 80 percent of the houses were badly damaged.

With few relief workers able to get to the hardest-hit islands - reachable only by a 12-hour boat ride - fishermen searched for the living and dead. Corpses lay unburied because there was not enough outside help to dig graves, according to the Mentawai district chief, Edison Salelo Baja.

The island chain, 175 miles (280 kilometers) from Sumatra, has long been popular with surfers.

A group of Australians said they were on the back deck of their chartered boat, anchored in a bay, when the quake hit just before 10 p.m. Monday. It generated a wave that pushed their boat into a neighboring vessel. A fire soon ripped through their cabin.

"We threw whatever we could that floated - surfboards, fenders - then we jumped into the water," Rick Hallet told Australia's Nine Network. "Fortunately, most of us had something to hold on to ... and we just washed in the wetlands, and scrambled up the highest trees that we could possibly find and sat up there for an hour and a half."

Ade Edward, a disaster management agency official, said crews from several ships were still unaccounted for in the Indian Ocean.

The quake also jolted towns along Sumatra's western coast - including Padang, which last year was hit by a deadly 7.6-magnitude quake that killed more than 700. Mosques blared tsunami warnings over their loudspeakers.

"Everyone was running out of their houses," said Sofyan Alawi, adding that the roads leading to surrounding hills were quickly jammed with thousands of cars and motorcycles.

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Indonesian tsunami toll climbs to 154

PADANG (Indonesia): A disaster official says the death toll from an Indonesian tsunami has climbed to 154, with more than 400 other villagers still missing.

The 7.7-magnitude quake that struck Monday 20km beneath the ocean floor triggered a three-metre-high wave that slammed into several remote islands.

With rescuers struggling to reach many of the hardest-hit villages, reports of damage and casualties were only now starting to trickle in.

Harmensyah, who heads the West Sumatra provincial disaster management center, said Wednesday that the number of people killed in the tsunami had climbed to 154.

More than 400 others were missing. - AP

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