- ARAB NEWS
- 27 Apr 2024
Since 1975
Professor Satake Kenji, an earthquake expert at the University of Tokyo, warned that Niigata Prefecture could be hit by a tsunami if strong tremors occur on faults northeast of the Noto Peninsula in central Japan.
Experts from the government’s Earthquake Research Committee have agreed it is highly probable that previously known faults, which resemble the fracture zone between two blocks of rocks, from the west to northeast of the peninsula were involved in the seismic activity.
Earthquake prediction, just like tsunamis, is not easy as major ones can be precipitated by a “swarm” of small quakes or no activity at all. However, Satake was able to determine the faults’ movement by observing and analyzing the tsunami waves.
He found significant movement along the northern coast of the peninsula and adjacent areas. But he said faults off the northeastern coast barely moved.
On Jan.9, a magnitude-6.1 quake struck the area whose population consists of 32.8 percent aged over of 65.
Satake warned that a magnitude-7 level tremor there could trigger a tsunami of about 3 meters high on the coast of Niigata Prefecture, including Sado Island.
Although the most recent tsunamis that hit Noto area in Japan left furniture, tires and wooden debris scattered all over the district, evacuation drills conducted in the past have proven to be significantly effective.
“It wasn’t a miracle. The drills paid off,” said a resident of the Jikeshimode district of Misaki in Suzu, Ishikawa Prefecture, at the tip of the central Japan peninsula.
Professor Satake strongly advised people in the Noto Peninsula to be prepared as seismic activity is expected to continue there and the area of the epicenters is widespread.
The Ishikawa prefectural government said Jan. 16 that the number of people who remain unaccounted for after the Jan. 1 quake was 26 while the death toll was unchanged at 222.
