[Kabar-indonesia] CSM: Japan's false alarm showcases tsunami alert system

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also: Massive quake produces only small tsunami

The Christian Science Monitor
Thursday, November 16, 2006

Japan's false alarm showcases tsunami alert system

By Bennett Richardson Correspondent of The Christian Science
Monitor

TOKYO -- A powerful undersea earthquake prompted tsunami
warnings Wednesday for Japan, Russia, and Alaska, but it was
a false alarm. Only a series of tiny waves hit the northern
Japanese coast.

Still, the event served as a useful test of Japan's
sophisticated early warning system and of its civil defense
emergency procedures designed to speedily remove people from
low-lying coastal areas.

Japan issued a major tsunami alert for the northern coast of
Hokkaido and some parts of northern Honshu Wednesday evening
local time, sparking the evacuation of hundreds of thousands
of people in some of the most remote and inaccessible parts
of the nation.

The emergency began after a magnitude-8.1 earthquake struck
in the Kuril Islands some 110 miles northeast of Hokkaido.
The area where the earthquake occurred has seen temblors
over a magnitude of 8.0 occurring in 1994 and 2003.

"The region has been particularly active since September,"
says Takeshi Hachimine, director of the earthquake and
tsunami warning system section at the Japan Meteorological
Agency (JMA).

Still, Japan is perhaps the best-prepared country in the
world for these events. It boasts an extensive system of
more than 300 round-the-clock earthquake sensors distributed
in the waters surrounding the island nation that relay real-
time information to six regional centers. The system has a
reputation for being able to predict within five minutes of
a quake's occurrence whether a tsunami will strike.

The JMA issued the alert some 14 minutes after the temblor,
much slower than is typical for the many minor tsunami
warnings that periodically occur in the country. Still, that
was enough time for most of the small towns along the bleak
Sea of Okhotsk coast to usher people to safety.

The town of Sarufutsu, for example, was able to get its
entire population of 2,904 people to higher ground within
one hour.

Tsunami escape routes and towers were built along most
populated parts of the Hokkaido coast after waves of up to
30 meters tall devastated the town of Okushiri there in
1993. The Okushiri tsunami was caused by a quake that was so
close to land that there was virtually no time for residents
to flee, and 202 perished in the waters.
That disaster prompted Japan to improve its early warning
system and set up comprehensive evacuation plans for coastal
towns. The government has since periodically commissioned
studies into the probable effects of a major tsunami on
populated coastal areas in order to devise steps to mitigate
the damage. One such study conducted in 2003, showing that a
tsunami resulting from magnitude-8.6 quake in the Pacific
south of Japan could kill up to 8,600 people if evacuations
were slow, prompted local municipalities to improve escape
routes. Other methods introduced to minimize damage include
giant water gates that can be closed to prevent killer waves
from heading inland via river systems

Japan got off lightly this time around. The waves did not
swell higher than 16 inches. Some three hours after the
initial tsunami alert was sounded, the JMA reduced the
emergency level for the northern coast of Hokkaido to a less
serious "tsunami advisory."

A tsunami warning posted for coastal areas of Alaska was
later canceled, as were watches for Hawaii and the northern
tip of British Columbia and precautionary advisories for the
states of Washington, Oregon, and California.

* Material from wire services was used in this story.

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Agence france-Presse
Thursday, November 16, 2006

Massive quake produces only small tsunami

A huge earthquake shook an isolated island chain north of
Japan, triggering a Pacific-wide tsunami warning but only a
wavelet hit the coast after thousands fled to higher ground.

The quake, with a magnitude of at least 8.1, rocked the
Russian-administered Kuril Islands, according to the Japan
Meteorological Agency. A tsunami alert was issued from Japan
to Canada and Indonesia.

With memories of the devastating 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami
still fresh more than 80,000 people, mostly living on
Japan's main northern island of Hokkaido, evacuated to
higher ground and Japan warned its inhabitants that waves of
up to two meters (six and a half feet) could hit the eastern
coast.

A Russian government alert warned of waves up to three
meters (11 feet).

But the first tsunami known to hit land was just 40
centimeters (16 inches). It trickled ashore at the
northeastern Japanese port of Nemuro at 9:42 pm (1242 GMT),
87 minutes after the earthquake, Japanese officials said.

Television footage showed rain but calm waters off Nemuro,
which faces the Kuril chain.

Though the Kurils region is notorious for quakes,
Wednesday's was unusually powerful. Japan's meteorological
agency estimated it at magnitude 8.1 while the US Geological
Survey (USGS) said it was magnitude 8.3.
The quake struck in the midst of the isolated islands, which
are also claimed by Japan, some 600 kilometers (370 miles)
northeast of Hokkaido, Japanese authorities said.

According to the USGS, there were a series of aftershocks
which registered up to magnitude 6.5 in the half hour after
the main quake.

In Tokyo, the government set up an emergency communication
office on the tsunami but lifted its warnings after the
small wave was reported.

Russian officials said there were no immediate reports of
damage or casualties in the Kurils.

The US Pacific Tsunami Warning Center issued a warning for
Russia and Japan along with the Pacific islands of Marcus,
Wake and Midway.

It issued a tsunami watch for areas including Indonesia,
which is still recovering from the devastating December 2004
earthquake that killed some 220,000 people around the Indian
Ocean coast, 168,000 of them in the Indonesian province of
Aceh.

The US West Coast/Alaska Tsunami Warning Center issued a
tsunami warning covering the areas from Sand Point, Alaska,
to Attu, Alaska. There was a "tsunami watch" alert for
Washington state and Canada's British Columbia province.

Japanese officials urged residents to head to higher ground.

Hokkaido authorities said they issued mandatory evacuation
orders for 10 municipalities, even though the quake was too
far away to be felt in Japan's major population centers.

Nemuro, where the wavelet was recorded, was among the towns
ordered emptied. "We have issued an evacuation warning to
all residents living near the coast," said Hiroyuki
Taniguchi, a local official.

"We have not had any sign of high waves. So far, there is no
confusion in the city. We did not feel any jolts," he said.

Japan is home to 20 percent of the world's major
earthquakes, which are frequently felt in major cities.

Japan prides itself on having one of the world's more
accurate systems for predicting tsunamis.

The Indian Ocean tsunami, which registered a massive 9.1
magnitude, produced waves of more than 10 meters (30 feet)
which devastated coastal villages from Indonesia to Sri
Lanka. The wave reached as far as the African coast.

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