Indonesia safe from Japan earthquake tsunami impact

Indonesias coastal areas are safe and not affected by the tsunami caused by the 7.3 magnitude earthquake that struck northeastern Japans Fukushima and Koriyama on Tuesday, an official said.

"Based on the analysis and modeling conducted by the Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG), the tsunami in Japan will have no impact on Indonesian coastal areas," BMKG Head of Earthquake and Tsunami Center Mochammad Riyadi remarked in a statement here on Tuesday.

The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center in Hawaii reported that the powerful earthquake in Japan has triggered a local tsunami around the areas near the quake epicenter, such as Ofunato and Mere.

Therefore, Riyadi called on the residents in the coastal areas of Indonesia to stay calm and not panic.

In the meantime, the Japan Meteorological Agency said that the quake was registered at intensity lower than 5 on the Japanese seismic scale of 7 at 5:59 am in northeastern Fukushima prefecture.

A warning was issued for tsunami waves reaching 3 meters. The first tsunami wave was observed in the offshore waters, 20 kilometers east of Iwaki city, in Fukushima prefecture.

The epicenter of the quake was at a latitude of 37.3 degrees north and a longitude of 141.6 degrees east and at a depth of 10 kilometers, the weather agency said.

The tremor was centered in the offshore waters of northeastern Fukushima prefecture, which borders the Pacific Ocean and is to the northeast of the nations capital city of Tokyo.

The jolt could be felt in central Tokyo and other northeastern Japanese prefectures, including Tochigi and Ibaraki.

Shinkansen train services were partially suspended in eastern Japan.

There were no abnormalities noticed so far at any of the nations nuclear plants, including Fukushima No. 1 and No. 2 nuclear power stations in Fukushima prefecture and Onagawa nuclear station in northeastern Miyagi prefecture.
Source: ANTARA