Earthquake in Japan of magnitude 7.6 and tsunami leave at least 73 dead and great destruction

The 7.6 magnitude earthquake that struck the western coast of central Mexico on Monday Japan has left at least 73 dead, according to local authorities today, while rescue efforts intensify in order to find survivors under the rubble. In towns such as Wajima, Noto or Suzu, all near the epicenter of the earthquake, the municipalities have increased their estimates of the number of collapsed houses, which is why rescue devices have also multiplied before the limit of 72 is reached. hours, after which it is almost impossible to find people alive.

The authorities have confirmed the extent of the destruction in Ishikawawith buildings still smoking, houses demolished and fishing boats sunk or washed ashore.

LOOK: The damage caused by the 7.6 magnitude earthquake that hit Japan on January 1 | PHOTOS

“Very extensive damage has been confirmed, including numerous victims, collapsed buildings and fires,” the prime minister told reporters. Fumio Kishida after a disaster response meeting.

“We have to race against time to search and rescue the victims”he added.

Aerial shots showed the devastation of a fire in the port of Wajimawhere a seven-story building collapsed.

Almost 45,000 houses are without electricity in the areawhich recorded freezing temperatures overnight, the power company said.

The 7.5 magnitude earthquake struck Ishikawa, on the Sea of ​​Japan side of the main island, at 4:10 p.m. (0710 GMT) on Monday, the United States Geological Survey (USGS).

According to the Japanese authorities, the magnitude of the earthquake was 7.6.

LOOK: Earthquake in Japan of magnitude 7.6 and tsunami LIVE, news, aftershocks and latest news on victims and damages

“It was such a powerful shock,” Tsugumasa Mihara, 73, told AFP while lining up to receive water with hundreds of residents of the town of Shika.

“What a terrible way to start the year,” he said.

The Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) indicated that after the initial earthquake, 155 aftershocks were recorded, mostly with magnitudes greater than 3.

“Horrible situation”

Defense Minister Minoru Kihara reported that 1,000 soldiers are prepared to head to the region and that another 8,500 were mobilized. Authorities also used 20 military planes to survey the damage.

The transportation authority closed highways in the area near the epicenter and Japan Railways announced that high-speed trains between Tokyo and the prefecture of Ishikawa They were interrupted.

The government, on the other hand, specified that no consequences were recorded in the country’s nuclear power plants.

In Ishikawa and neighboring prefectures Toyama and Niigata Some 33,500 homes were deprived of electricity. Many houses collapsed in the city of Suzu, according to reports.

The damage caused by the earthquakes mainly affected old houses, which are usually made of wood.

Government spokesman Yoshimasa Hayashi noted “six cases” of people who were in collapsed buildings in the Ishikawa area.

Police said they were investigating reports that two people died in the city of Nanao.

Television images also showed a major fire that devastated several buildings in Wajima.

In a video on the social network X, old houses could be seen destroyed. “It is the district Noto Matsunami. We are in a horrible situation. Please help us. “My city is in a horrible situation,” lamented one person in the recording.

“There is a big fire. “We cannot immediately say how many houses are affected,” a local firefighter told AFP.

Some cities in the Russian Far East also issued alerts for possible tsunami risk, although without carrying out evacuations.

The authorities of Vladivostoka Russian city of 600,000 inhabitants, advised the fishermen to return to port.

The memory of Fukushima

He Pacific tsunami warning centerbased in Hawaiiwarned that there was risk of dangerous waves “due to this earthquake in a radius of 300 km around the epicenter along the coasts of Japan”.

These could reach five meters in heightspecified the Japanese meteorological agency.

The earthquakes in Japan caused some cities in the Russian Far East, including Vladivostok, to also issue alerts for possible tsunami risk. although at the moment no evacuations were carried out.

“The western coast of Sakhalin could be affected by the waves,” warned the Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations on Telegram. Vladivostok authorities advised fishermen to return to port.

The largest in this long series of earthquakes was initially recorded with a magnitude of 7.4, before being revised upwards to 7.6 by the Japanese agency.

Other earthquakes occurred shortly before or just after in Noto, in total 21 earthquakes of magnitude 4 or greater in just over an hour and a half: the first of magnitude 5.7 at 4:06 p.m. local time, another of magnitude 6.1 at 4:18 p.m. and then three more of magnitude between 4.5 and 4.8 until 4:32 p.m.

Located in the so-called “ring of fire” of the Pacific, Japan is one of the countries in the world where earthquakes are most frequent.

Therefore, the archipelago It applies extremely strict building regulations, so buildings are usually able to withstand strong earthquakes, and residents are used to these types of situations, for which they prepare regularly.

But the traumatic memory of the terrible earthquake magnitude 9.0 followed by a gigantic tsunami that in March 2011 caused a catastrophe that left some 20,000 dead or missing.

That catastrophe included the nuclear accident of Fukushimathe worst recorded in the world since Chernobyl in 1986. The tsunami caused three reactors at the Japanese nuclear power plant to melt down.

Then, in March 2022, a earthquake of magnitude 7.4 off the coast of Fukushima It shook large areas of eastern Japan and caused three deaths.

The capital, Tokyowas devastated by a major earthquake a century ago, in 1923.