Huge quake triggers tsunami off Japan's coast

Earthquake-triggered tsumanis sweep shores along Iwanuma in northern Japan on Friday March 11, 2011. (Kyodo News)

View larger image Houses are in flame while the Natori river is flooded over the surrounding area by tsunami tidal waves in Natori city, Miyagi Prefecture, northern Japan, March 11, 2011, after strong earthquakes hit the area. (Yasushi Kanno / The Yomiuri Shimbun) View larger image Tsunami swirls near a port in Oarai, Ibaraki Prefecture (state) after Japan was struck by a strong earthquake off its northeastern coast Friday, March 11, 2011. (Kyodo News) View larger image Residents walk through the rubles of residents collapsed by a powerful earthquake in Iwaki, Fukushima prefecture (state), Japan, Friday, March 11, 2011. (Kyodo News) View larger image Flames rise from houses and debris half submerged in tsunami in Sendai, Miyagi Prefecture (state) after Japan was struck by a strong earthquake off its northeastern coast Friday, March 11, 2011. (Kyodo News) View larger image Boats, cars and trucks are washed ashore by a tsunami following the massive earthquake in Sendai, Japan, Friday, March 11, 2011. View larger image Giant fireballs rise from a burning oil refinery in Ichihara, Chiba Prefecture (state) after Japan was struck by a strong earthquake off its northeastern coast Friday, March 11, 2011. (Kyodo News) View larger image A map showing the location of a 8.9-magnitude earthquake off the northeast coast of Japan on Friday, March 11, 2011. Office workers in Tokyo's Shiodome district near Tokyo Bay stay on the pedestrian deck, observing surrounding high-rise office and hotel buildings swaying Friday, March 11, 2011, shortly after an earthquake has struck off Japan's northeastern coast. (AP Photo/Koji Sasahara)

Updated: Fri Mar. 11 2011 7:53:16 AM

CTV.ca News Staff

The largest earthquake in Japan's recorded history struck off the island nation's northeastern coast on Friday, shaking cities and villages and triggering a devastating tsunami.

Japanese officials report at least 60 people are dead and 56 missing, but the toll is expected to rise as they struggle to assess the damage.

The earthquake struck at 2:46 p.m. local time on Friday afternoon, at a depth of 10 kilometres about 125 kilometres off the eastern coast, and was followed by at least 19 powerful aftershocks.

Japan's meteorological agency said the initial earthquake registered at a magnitude of 8.8, while the U.S. Geological Survey said it measured a magnitude 8.9 -- enough to rank it fifth among all quakes registered in the past 111 years. Most of the aftershocks registered at 6.0, with one reaching 7.1. In comparison, the recent quake that claimed more than 160 lives in New Zealand was measured at 6.3.

Prime Minister Naoto Kan has appeared on television, urging all Japanese to remain calm.

"The earthquake has caused major damage in broad areas in northern Japan," Kan said, asking people along Japan's 2,100-kilometre east coast to move to higher ground in advance of more devastating waves that experts warn could reach as far away as South America, Alaska, the U.S. West Coast and British Columbia.

Several waves, including one estimated at 7-metres, sent crushing walls of water littered with boats and buildings over cities and coastal farmland as well as the airport near the largest city in the region, Sendai.

Japan's public broadcaster NHK reports that fires, likely triggered by gas pipes ruptured in the crush of tons of debris-packed water, are spreading throughout sections of the city.

A fire was also reported in the turbine building of a nuclear power plant in the hard-hit Miyagi prefecture. Tohoku Electric Power Co. said the cause is under investigation, but there were no reports of injuries or leaks.

Japan's chief cabinet secretary Yukio Edano said a state of emergency had been declared as a precaution at another nuclear facility in Fukushima prefecture, after it suffered a mechanical failure in the reactor's cooling system.

"Our initial assessment indicates that there has already been enormous damage," the government's chief spokesperson told reporters earlier Friday. "We will make maximum relief effort based on that assessment."

Japan's Defence Ministry has already dispatched troops to the quake-hit region, as well as a utility aircraft and several helicopters.

Journalist Chris Johnson said the quake's enormity was evident, even in the capital area where NHK reported that 4 million buildings were without power.

"It felt like the big one that everyone's been expecting here in Tokyo. But, in fact, it was more than 300 kilometres away," Johnson told CTV in a telephone interview from Tokyo.

Although initial reports suggest no major damage in Tokyo, train and subway service has been halted, stranding millions of rush hour commuters. Service has also been interrupted at the city's two main airports.

Several quakes had hit the same northeast region of Japan in recent days, including a 7.3-magnitude tremor on Wednesday.

Because it is situated in the earthquake and volcano-prone region of the Pacific known as the "Ring of Fire", Japan is among the countries best prepared for such devastating events.

Even so, Osama Akiya told the AP that this one was exceptional.

"I've been through many earthquakes, but I've never felt anything like this," Akiya said, describing his experience as the quake shook his downtown Tokyo office.

Japan's worst earthquake claimed 143,000 lives when it struck Kanto in 1923. The magnitude 7.2 temblor that devastated Kobe in 1996 killed 6,400 people.

In a statement issued early Friday, Canada's Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade said it had no reports of Canadian deaths or injuries in this latest quake.

Anyone seeking information about Canadians in Japan is asked to call DFAIT at 613-943-1055, or toll free within Canada at 1-800-387-3124.

Posted in: World News