Japan downgrades tsunami warning after evacuation
Updated
The official death toll from Chile's earthquake has reached 708. with fears it could climb much higher, as more casualties emerge from outlying areas along Chile's long coastline. As many as two million people have been affected by the powerful quake, which measured 8-point-8 on the Richter scale. And countries in the Pacific were on tsunami alert after the Chile quake. Japan has downgraded its tsunami warning, but not before evacuating more than 300-thousand people from its Pacific coast, cancelling train services and calling off a local election.
Presenter: North Asia correspondent Mark Willacy
Speaker: Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama
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MARK WILLACY: There were tsunami sirens and warnings for hours on every TV network in five languages.
EXTRACT FROM TELEVISION ANNOUNCEMENT: The waves can be more than three metres high in some of the areas mentioned. Everyone near the coast must evacuate to higher ground.
MARK WILLACY: And for good measure roads were closed and train services cancelled along the Pacific coast. If that wasn't enough preparation, massive steel gates across entrances to fishing ports were shut, fighter jets were scrambled to look for stray ships and 320,000 people were moved to higher ground.
A mayoral election on the main island of Honshu was even called off. Japan was a nation taking no chances.
Yukio Hatoyama speaking
While offering his condolences to the people of Chile, Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama warned his citizens to be prepared for the wave which was on its way. While tens of thousands scrambled for higher ground, some still felt a sense of approaching dread.
I'm worried" says this evacuee. "I just can't remain calm," she says.
To get to Japan this tsunami had to travel more than 17,000 kilometres across the Pacific. It did it in 22 hours - that's a speed of 770 kilometres an hour and when it hit, Japan was prepared.
The first wave was just 30 centimetres but then the sea began to rise. First by half a metre, then a metre peaking in Honshu at nearly one and a half metres - enough to flood some port towns and in parts, the surging sea refused to retreat. It took more than an hour for the ocean to return to its normal level.
But for Japan this was a successful tsunami operation. While some warehouses, cars, and roads were inundated - not one injury was reported.
Exactly half a century ago, the biggest recorded quake in history shook Chile sending a tsunami across the world's largest ocean. Twenty-two hours later a tsunami slammed into Japan leaving 140 dead or missing.
