Japan Earthquake Highlights: Japan downgrades tsunami warning but advises residents not to return home

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Tsunami warning in Japan has been reduced to a tsunami advisory, according to NHK.

According to the government, as of Monday night, more than 97,000 people in nine prefectures on Japan's main island Honshu had been told to evacuate. According to Reuters, more powerful quakes in the area, where seismic activity has been simmering for more than three years, are possible in the coming days, said JMA spokesman Toshihiro Shimoyama.

According to transport authorities, forty train lines including two high-speed rail services to the quake-affected area have been halted, six motorways have been shuttered, and one of Ishikawa's airports has been forced to close owing to a break in the runway.

Following an earthquake in Kanazawa, Japan, residents were resting after being evacuated at an elementary school that is serving as an evacuation shelter.

Tsunami warnings have been issued in several places by Russia and North Korea.

According to Reuters, the Wajima City fire department in Japan's Ishikawa prefecture has received at least 30 reports of buildings collapsing.

After a major earthquake, almost 32,000 houses in Ishikawa prefecture are facing a power outage. Tsunami warnings have been issued along western Japan's coastline. Furthermore, residents have been asked to leave after a magnitude 7.5 earthquake shook the area.

According to Reuters, citing Japan's NTV, one man died after a building collapsed in Ishikawa prefecture.

A search and rescue operation is underway for a 2.5-year-old girl who fell into a borewell in Ran village, Dwarka district. Indian Army soldiers are also on the spot, assisting in the rescue mission. The district administration has also requested the participation of the NDRF team.

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Tsunamis are still being reported, therefore we encourage you to stay evacuated, said Japan Meteorological Agency official, according to Reuters.

Director General, IMD, Mrityunjay Mohapatra said, " During 5-11th January, we are expecting night temperature to fall, it may lead to cold wave conditions in some parts of central India...day temperature will also be below normal leading to cold day conditions especially in Madhya Pradesh, northern parts of Maharashtra, southern parts of Uttar Pradesh."

Over 8.18 crore Income Tax Returns (ITRs) filed for assessment year 2023-2024 up to December 31, 2023, marking an annual increase of 9 percent. The Income Tax Department made over 103.5 crore outreaches through targeted e-mail, SMS and other creative campaigns.

Japan's weather agency has downgraded the Major Tsunami Warning’ issued earlier today to a 'Tsunami Warning' for Noto region. This comes hours after the country's coastal region was hit by 21 earthquakes.

The tsunami threat from a powerful earthquake that struck central Japan has "largely passed", a US agency said, after waves over a metre high had earlier hit some areas, AFP reported. "The tsunami threat has now largely passed," the Hawaii-based Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said.

North Korea issued tsunami warnings for its east coast after a massive quake hit north central Japan, saying waves of up to 2.08 meters (6.8 ft) can reach its shore, Yonhap news reported citing the North's state radio, according to Reuters.

The Japanese government has set up a special emergency center to gather information on the quakes and tsunami and relay them speedily to residents to ensure safety, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida told reporters.

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South Korea’s Gangwon province warned residents to take precautions and evacuate to higher grounds after a massive earthquake hit north central Japan and triggered tsunami warnings, according the safety ministry.

South Korea’s meteorological agency earlier said sea levels in some parts of the Gangwon province on the east coast may rise after an earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 7.6 hit north central Japan and issued an advisory for caution. It said tsunami waves of up to 0.3 metres could reach South Korea’s eastern shore between 0929 GMT and 1017 GMT. (Reuters)

Hazardous tsunami waves of up to five metres were possible along the north coast of central Japan on Monday within 300 kilometres of a magnitude 7.5 quake's epicentre, US and Japanese agencies said, according to AFP. "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 was quoted as saying by the news agency.

Several major highways were closed around the epicentre of a series of major earthquakes in central Japan, AFP reported. Shinkansen bullet train services were also suspended between Tokyo and the epicentre in the Noto region in Ishikawa prefecture on the Sea of Japan side of Japan's main island of Honshu, Japan Railways said.

Around 33,500 households were without power around the epicentre of a series of major earthquakes in central Japan, local utilities said, as per an AFP report. The areas affected were the Toyama, Ishikawa and Niigata prefectures on the Sea of Japan side of Japan's main island of Honshu, the report added.

A succession of 21 earthquakes registering 4.0 magnitude or stronger struck central Japan in just over 90 minutes on Monday, the Japan Meteorological Agency said, according to news agency AFP. The strongest jolt measured 7.6, it added, further noting that the tremors prompted tsunami warnings and authorities urged people in the area to move to higher ground.

Parts of Sakhalin island's western coast and the mainland cities of Vladivostok and Nakhodka, which are situated close to Japan on Russia's Pacific seaboard, are under threat of tsunami, Russia's state news agency TASS reported, citing officials. (Reuters)

The first tsunami waves, some more than a metre high, struck the north coast of central Japan. Waves as high as 1.2 meters (four feet) hit Wajima port in Ishikawa prefecture at 4:21 pm (0721 GMT), the Japan Meteorological Agency said, after the US Geological Survey and other agencies registered a major 7.5 magnitude quake little more than 10 minutes earlier, as per an AFP report.

Japanese public broadcaster NHK TV warned torrents of water could reach as high as 5 meters (16.5 feet) and urged people to flee to high land or the top of a nearby building as quickly as possible, as per an AP report.

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Official data shows that a total of 4,44,76,150 people recovered from COVID in India, with the recovery rate pegged at 98.81 percent. The current fatality rate is 1.18 percent.

Sunday, December 31, saw a total of 548 people recover from COVID, a health ministry report stated. The total number of recoveries now stands at 4.44 crore (4,44,76,150).

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The second batch of supplementary demands for grants for the fiscal year 2023-24 is intended to be presented before Parliament in the Budget Session, the finance ministry indicated in an office memorandum.

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IMD post on X: Fog Observed (at 0530 hours IST of today): Very dense fog in isolated pockets of East Uttar Pradesh; Dense fog in isolated places over Uttarakhand and Bihar and Moderate fog in isolated places over Haryana & Chandigarh, Southwest Uttar Pradesh and Northeast Rajasthan.

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