JAPAN: Residents in the region devastated by Japan's 2011 earthquake and tsunami react calmly to magnitude 7.3 tremor and one-metre-high tsunami
Record ID:
466775
JAPAN: Residents in the region devastated by Japan's 2011 earthquake and tsunami react calmly to magnitude 7.3 tremor and one-metre-high tsunami
- Title: JAPAN: Residents in the region devastated by Japan's 2011 earthquake and tsunami react calmly to magnitude 7.3 tremor and one-metre-high tsunami
- Date: 8th December 2012
- Summary: ISHINOMAKI, JAPAN (DECEMBER 8, 2012) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF SEA BY ISHINOMAKI PORT VARIOUS OF CARS RECOVERED AFTER TSUNAMI OF MARCH 11, 2011 VARIOUS OF SANDBAGS BY AYUKAWA PORT (SOUNDBITE) (Japanese) 74-YEAR-OLD TEMPORARY HOME RESIDENT SHIGEO OKUTSU, SAYING: "No, no I wasn't scared at all. I've seen it all before, I've been in this dangerous position many times." VARIOUS OF TEMPORARY HOMES FOR PEOPLE WHO LOST THEIR HOMES IN MARCH 11 TSUNAMI VARIOUS OF TEMPORARY HOME RESIDENT NORIKO SUZUKI CLEARING ROOM USED AS TSUNAMI REFUGE ON DECEMBER 7 SUZUKI WALKING OUT OF ROOM (SOUNDBITE) (Japanese) 70-YEAR-OLD TEMPORARY HOME RESIDENT NORIKO SUZUKI, SAYING: "It really shook so I got into a panic and thought I should run for it. Tsunamis give me the jitters after last year. It was all really scary." BUILDING BY AYUKAWA PORT POOL OF WATER BY PORT (SOUNDBITE) (Japanese) 39-YEAR-OLD TEMPORARY HOME RESIDENT NORIKO ABE, SAYING: "Before last year people said everything would be fine, because no-one had really experienced a quake here before. But it turned out this area was one of the hardest hit. So this time round it was different - because we had no idea what we happen next, we just made sure we could escape if we had to." SEA AT AYUKAWA PORT DEBRIS IN SEA CAUSED BY MARCH 11, 2011 TSUNAMI IN PORT SEA RIPPLING IN PORT VARIOUS OF TYRE IN POOL OF WATER
- Embargoed: 23rd December 2012 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Japan
- Country: Japan
- Topics: Disasters
- Reuters ID: LVAB1VR76LO6ZSX4QPMAM14MLK7I
- Story Text: On Friday (December 7) a magnitude 7.3 tremor hit Japan, triggering a tsunami reaching one metre near the port town of Ishinomaki.
The waves didn't breach the sandbags and was miniscule compared to the towering waves that crashed into the coast following a devastating earthquake last March.
Nearly 20,000 people died in that calamity and triggered the world's worst nuclear crisis in 25 years at the Fukushima Daiichi plant.
It also left local residents like Shigeo Okutsu homeless, consigned to temporary houses where many including him continue to live.
This time, though, Okutsu was not fazed by the strong earthquake.
"No, no I wasn't scared at all. I've seen it all before, I've been in this dangerous position many times," Okutsu said on a trip to inspect the damage from Friday's tremor.
But others were less nonchalant.
Noriko Suzuki, who also lost her home in last year's tsunami, said the alert worried her.
Her temporary residence had been used by locals looking to flee somewhere high and dry when the tsunami alert came on Friday.
"It really shook so I got into a panic and thought I should run for it. Tsunamis give me the jitters after last year. It was all really scary," Suzuki said.
"Before last year people said it everything would be fine, because no-one had really experienced a quake here before. But it turned out this area was one of the hardest hit. So this time round it was different: because we had no idea what we happen next, we just made sure we could escape if we had to," said Noriko Abe, a mother of one.
Friday's quake measured a "lower five" in Miyagi prefecture on Japan's scale of seven and the shaking was felt in Tokyo as well.
A lower five level tremour indicates there may be some damage to roads and house that are less quake resistant.
Five people in the prefecture were slightly injured. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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