Tsunami alert for Japan after Taiwan earthquake

Associated Press

TOKYO — Authorities issued a tsunami alert tonight, Hawai'i time, for several islands in southern Japan following a powerful earthquake and urged residents to flee to higher ground.

The National Weather Service said tonight there is no risk for a tsunami in Hawai'i.

Japan's Meteorological Agency said the earthquake registered magnitude 7.3 and was centered 149 miles west of the island of Ishigaki near Taiwan.

NHK, Japan's state-run television network, broke into its regular programming to broadcast the warning and live video from Okinawa's Ishigaki Island. The broadcasts warned residents to avoid beaches and follow the instructions of emergency officials.

Strong underwater earthquakes frequently generate tsunami waves, but the size of the waves and when they will hit is notoriously hard to predict. Japan is one of the world's most seismically active countries, and straddles three tectonic plates, the huge slabs of land that cover the earth's surface.

A tsunami and earthquake that hit the small northern Japan island of Okushiri killed more than 100 people in 1993. In 1995, more than 6,000 people were killed when a powerful quake flattened the port city of Kobe.

Advertiser staff contributed to this report.