A magnitude 7. 6 earthquake struck off the coast of Japan on Monday, prompting a high-level tsunami warning.
Toshitaka Katada, a professor at the University of Tokyo who specializes in disasters, said others were prepared because the region had been hit by earthquakes in recent years. They had evacuation plans and emergency materials in stock.
“There is no other people on Earth who are as prepared to make mistakes as the Japanese,” he told the Associated Press.
Japan is frequently hit by earthquakes because of its location along the “Ring of Fire,” an arc of volcanoes and fault lines in the Pacific Basin.
Katada warned that the situation remains precarious and unpredictable. The March 2011 earthquake and tsunami in northeastern Japan were preceded by other earthquakes.
“This is far from over,” Katada said.
Scientists’ predictions have been proven wrong on several occasions, such as in the 2016 earthquake in southwestern Kumamoto, a domain that in the past was thought to be relatively unscathed.
“Having too much confidence in the power of science is very dangerous. We are dealing with nature,” Katada said.
Aerial images from Japanese media showed extensive damage in the worst affected areas, with landslides burying roads, boats thrown into the water and a fire burning an entire part of the town of Wajima to ashes.
Japan’s military has sent 1,000 troops to the affected areas to join rescue efforts, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said on Tuesday.
“Saving lives is our priority and we are fighting a war against time,” he said. “It’s about other people trapped in their homes being rescued immediately. “
An earthquake with an initial magnitude of 5. 6 shook Ishikawa’s domain as he spoke. Earthquakes continued to shake the region, triggering more than a hundred aftershocks over the past day.
Nuclear regulators said several nuclear plants in the region were operating normally. A major quake and tsunami in 2011 caused three reactors to melt and release large amounts of radiation at a nuclear plant in northeastern Japan.
On Monday, the Japan Meteorological Agency issued a major tsunami warning for Ishikawa and lower-level tsunami warnings or advisories for the rest of the western coast of Japan’s main island of Honshu, as well as for the northern island of Hokkaido.
The caution was reduced a few hours later and all tsunami warnings were lifted on Tuesday morning. Waves measuring more than a meter (3 feet) hit some places.
Still, half-sunken ships floated in bays where tsunami waves had hit, leaving a muddy coastline.
People who were evacuated from their houses huddled in auditoriums, schools and community centers. Bullet trains in the region were halted, but service was mostly restored by Tuesday afternoon. Sections of highways were closed.
Forecasters were predicting rain, raising concerns about collapsing buildings and infrastructure.
The region includes tourist spots famous for lacquerware and other traditional crafts, along with designated cultural heritage sites.
US President Joe Biden said in a statement that his leadership was “ready to provide any mandatory assistance to the Japanese people. “
Kageyama reported from Tokyo. Cameraman Richard Columbo contributed from Wajima.