Japan Lifts Tsunami Warnings After New Year’s Day Earthquake

Japan is still assessing damage after the most powerful earthquake to hit the region in the last four decades struck the country on Monday.

According to reports, a 7.6 magnitude earthquake hit Japan’s Noto Peninsula on Monday, causing major damage to roads and buildings, and prompting authorities to issue a tsunami warning for areas along the coast. Tremors from the quake were felt as far as Tokyo, more than 300 miles from Waijima, the city on the country’s west coast that is closest to the epicenter.

While the tsunami warnings were lifted early on Tuesday morning, authorities in Japan are scrambling as the death toll from the quake continues to rise—as of Tuesday morning, the death toll had reached 48, all in Ishikawa prefecture, a district in the Chubu region of Honshu Island that was close to the earthquake’s epicenter.

Authorities are reportedly having trouble reaching the area because an access road had been destroyed by the earthquake. Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said on Monday that rescue teams were doing everything possible to access the quake-hit areas.

Kishida, talking to media on Tuesday, called the efforts “a battle against time.”

Japan News, citing the local fire department in Ishikawa Prefecture, is reporting that about 200 houses and other structure burned down on Monday, including several close to the Wajima morning market street, one of the area’s busiest tourist sites.

Travel impact
Noto Airport, a domestic airport less than 10 miles away from Wajima, cancelled all flights on Tuesday and has not yet said when it will resume normal operations.

Komatsu Airport, another airport in Ishikawa Prefecture, is operating, but is dealing with the fallout from Monday’s earthquake, along with runway issues at Tokyo’s Haneda Airport, which is closed due to an accident. All Nippon Airways (ANA) has added extra flights between Haneda Airport in Tokyo and Komatsu Airport.