TOKYO: Japan said Sunday evening tiny tsunami waves hit its northern Pacific coast after an offshore 6.7-magnitude earthquake.
The first tsunami hit Miyako, Iwate, at 5:37 p.m. (0837 GMT), but it was so small that the Japan Meteorological Agency said it could not measure its size.
Two minutes later, a 10-centimeter (less than four inches) wave reached Ofunato, the JMA said.
The quake struck around 5:03 p.m. (0803 GMT) in waters off Iwate, prompting JMA to issue the advisory for a possible tsunami up to one meter (three feet) high.
The US Geological Survey measured the quake as magnitude 6.8.
“A tsunami advisory has been issued” for the Iwate coast, the JMA said in a bulletin, warning that waves could approach at any moment.
The original quake was followed aftershocks of between 5.3 and 6.3-magnitude, the JMA said.
Live television feeds on Japanese television showed calm seas.
The same region Sunday morning experienced six offshore quakes, ranging between magnitude 4.8 and 5.8, that were barely felt on land and did not prompt tsunami adviseries.
The region is haunted by the memory of a massive 9.0-magnitude undersea quake in 2011, which triggered a tsunami that left around 18,500 people dead or missing.
The tsunami also sent three reactors into meltdown at the Fukushima nuclear plant, causing Japan’s worst post-war disaster and the world’s worst nuclear accident since Chernobyl.
Japan sits on top of four major tectonic plates along the western edge of the Pacific “Ring of Fire” and is one of the world’s most tectonically active countries.
The archipelago, home to around 125 million people, experiences around 1,500 jolts every year.
The vast majority are mild, although the damage they cause varies according to their location and depth below the Earth’s surface.
Japan observes tiny tsunami following 6.7 magnitude quake
https://arab.news/6xw58
Japan observes tiny tsunami following 6.7 magnitude quake
- The region is haunted by the memory of a massive 9.0-magnitude undersea quake in 2011, which triggered a tsunami that left around 18,500 people dead or missing
Blair dropped from Gaza ‘peace board’ after Arab objections
- Former UK PM was viewed with hostility over role in Iraq War
- He reportedly met Netanyahu late last month to discuss plans
LONDON: Former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair has been withdrawn from the US-led Gaza “peace council” following objections by Arab and Muslim countries, The Guardian reported.
US President Donald Trump has said he would chair the council. Blair was long floated for a prominent role in the administration, but has now been quietly dropped, according to the Financial Times.
Blair had been lobbying for a position in the postwar council and oversaw a plan for Gaza from his Tony Blair Institute for Global Change that involved Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law.
Supporters of the former British leader cited his role in the Good Friday Agreement, which ended decades of conflict and violence in Northern Ireland.
His detractors, however, highlighted his former position as representative of the Middle East Quartet, made up of the UN, EU, Russia and US, which aimed to bring about peace in the Middle East.
Furthermore, Blair’s involvement in the Iraq War is viewed with hostility across the Arab world.
After Trump revealed his 20-point plan to end the Israel-Hamas war in September, Blair was the only figure publicly named as taking a potential role in the postwar peace council.
The US president supported his appointment and labeled him a “very good man.”
A source told the Financial Times that Blair’s involvement was backed by the US and Israel.
“The Americans like him and the Israelis like him,” the person said.
The US plan for Gaza was criticized in some quarters for proposing a separate Gaza framework that did not include the West Bank, stoking fears that the occupied Palestinian territories would become separate polities indefinitely.
Trump said in October: “I’ve always liked Tony, but I want to find out that he’s an acceptable choice to everybody.”
Blair is reported to have held an unpublicized meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu late last month to discuss plans.
His office declined to comment to The Guardian, but an ally said the former prime minister would not be sitting on Gaza’s “board of peace.”
