Japan Hit By Magnitude 8.9 Earthquake and Tsunami

Several countries in the Pacific, Southeast Asia, Latin America, and North America have also raised tsunami alerts. The places that have already issued the alerts are Japan, Taiwan, Indonesia, Russia, New Zealand, Philippines, Hawaii and Chile.

The quake struck at a depth of approximately15 miles with the epicentre 240 miles northeast of Tokyo. Within two hours 4 to 10-meter high tsunamis slammed into Japan's eastern coast, sweeping away cars and boats inland. Structures already damaged by the earthquake were added damaged by the tsunamis and swept away.

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Fires in some locations along the coast, triggered by ruptured gas lines, also burned structures. A large fire also hit the Cosmo oil refinery in Ichihara city in Chiba prefecture near the capital. Agreeing to Prime clergyman Naoto Kan, nuclear power plants were not affected. The Japanese government has already sent troops troops to affected areas.

Television footage showed the Sendai airport inundated with water and mud. The runway was littered with debris, cars, buses, and trucks swept in by tsunami waters. One Tv news footage showed a house on fire being swept away by water. Elsewhere, large fishing boats lay beside city freeways, left at the site as the tsunami water receded back to sea.

Arlyn Kobori, who lives in the Saitama Prefecture, located in the northern part of the Greater Tokyo Area, which is very close to the epicentre, said that numerous strong aftershocks prolonged hours after the big quake. Water and gas lines were cut in her home. Kobori said it was the most great quake she had ever felt in Japan.

"My son was about to leave for work but the earthquake struck before he was able to leave the house." Kobori said. "We huddled under the tables some times as aftershocks kept advent and would not stop." Kobori said she fears for her husband who is not home yet with night and darkness creeping in.

In central Tokyo trains were stopped and power was down. Power is down in most parts of Tokyo along with its suburbs. The ceiling of a large hall in Tokyo, Kudan Kaikan, collapsed injuring habitancy who were inside. Video clips showed office workers stumbling colse to as the earthquake struck. Structure prolonged to sway 30 minutes after the big earthquake struck.

Tokyo's main airport was terminated after a ceiling at the year-old airport at Ibaraki collapsed with a loud crash. Dozens of fires and fallen structures were reported in the northern prefectures of Sendai, Fukushima, Iwate and Ibaraki.

A hotel reportedly collapsed in Sendai raising fears of hundreds of habitancy trapped, dead and injured. Landslides and collapsed homes were also reported in Miyagi. The death toll has been confirmed at 26 as of Friday evening local time. Junichi Sawada, an lawful from Japan's Fire and Disaster administration group said that they expect damages and casualties to rise.

Japan Hit By Magnitude 8.9 Earthquake and Tsunami

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