ALBAWABA - The Japanese meteorological agency issued a tsunami warning early Thursday for the Izu island chain after a 6.6 magnitude earthquake struck in the Pacific Ocean.
The quake struck at 11 a.m. near Torishima in the Izu chain at a depth of 10 kilometers, with the Meteorological Agency issuing a tsunami advisory and originally forecasting waves of up to 1 meter for the remote chain of islands lying south of Tokyo, The Japan Times reported.
A Meteorological Agency representative said at a news conference that a "1-meter wave may not seem significant. ... But encountering such a wave can be extremely dangerous and it can sweep you off your feet".
The tsunami was expected to hit the Izu islands at various times, including Hachijo-jima around 11:50 a.m. and Izu Oshima at noon. A tsunami was claimed to have been observed at Hachijo-jima (Yaene) around 12:17 p.m., while the Meteorological Agency stated that it could have been higher at other locations.
The meteorological agency warned of probable aftershocks, estimating a 10% to 20% risk of an earthquake of similar magnitude occurring, while advising the people living in the at-risk areas to be on high alert for the next week.
So far, there has been no exceptional volcanic activity as a result of Thursday's earthquake, however, this is difficult to determine due to cloud cover. Aerial observations by the Japan Coast Guard have similarly revealed no unusual activity in the last week.
Earthquakes in Japan
A comparable magnitude earthquake was detected on Torishima island in 2006, generating a 16 cm wave to reach Miyake-jima. It is also the first tsunami warning for the Izu Islands since the Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai volcanic eruption and tsunami in 2022.
Japan is one of the most earthquake-prone countries on the planet. In 2011, a major magnitude 9.0 earthquake triggered a tsunami that wrecked areas of northern Japan and caused three reactors at the Fukushima nuclear power facility to melt.
