Japan observes tiny tsunami following 6.7-magnitude quake

TOKYO – Tiny tsunami waves hit Japan’s northern Pacific coast on Nov 9 following an offshore 6.7-magnitude earthquake.

The first tsunami hit Miyako city, in northern Iwate prefecture, at 5.37pm (4.37pm, Singapore time), but it was so small that the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) said it could not measure its size.

Two minutes later, a 10cm wave reached Ofunato city.

The quake struck at around 5.03pm (4.03pm, Singapore time) in the waters off Iwate. The US Geological Survey measured the quake as magnitude 6.8.

The original quake was followed by aftershocks of between magnitudes 5.3 and 6.3, the JMA said.

There were no abnormalities at the Onagawa nuclear power plant operated by Tohoku Electric Power.

Live television feeds on Japanese television showed calm seas.

Japan’s northern region is haunted by the memory of a massive 9-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 in Russia.

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. REUTERS, AFP