Japan: Disruptions ongoing March 17 after 7.3-magnitude earthquake strikes east of Honshu Island /update 2

Event

As of early March 17, Japanese authorities are continuing their response to a strong magnitude-7.3 earthquake that struck off the east coast of Honshu late the previous day. Over two million households were temporarily without power and several public transport networks temporarily suspended service following the earthquake. The Japanese Meteorological Agency (JMA) lifted all tsunami advisories for the east coast of Honshu and Hokkaido. All evacuation orders have also been lifted.

The earthquake occurred east of Honshu Island at around 23:36 March 16. The epicenter was about 57 km (35 miles) east-northeast of Namie. Violent shaking was reportedly felt in large parts of eastern Japan, including Tokyo. Initial reports of observed tsunami waves at Ishinomaki Port in Miyagi Prefecture suggest the waves were smaller than first feared.

As of 08:00 March 17, authorities have confirmed at least four fatalities and 97 others injured in Akita, Fukushima, Ibaraki, Iwate, Miyagi, Tochigi, and Yamagata prefectures due to the earthquake. Tohoku Electric Power has reported more than 24,000 outages remaining across Miyagi and Fukushima prefectures. Water outages have been reported in Fukushima, Iwate, and Miyagi prefectures.

Mobile phone communications have been affected following the earthquake. Several phone carriers are reporting that services are unavailable or experiencing disruptions in portions of Fukushima and Miyagi prefectures, including Minamisoma, Nihonmatsu, Fukushima, Soma, Shiroishi, and Date cities and Murata and Kawasaki towns in Fukushima Prefecture.

Numerous railways, metros, airports, and bus lines across eastern Honshu have temporarily suspended service for damage assessments. Although many are now resuming operations once receiving the all-clear, residual disruptions are likely across most services in the coming hours. The Tohoku Expressway in Shiroishi City, Miyagi Prefecture, is damaged. Japan Airlines is operating additional flights between Haneda Airport (HND) and Yamagata Airport (GAJ) while All Nippon Airways is operating several additional flights between Haneda Airport (HND), Sendai (SDJ), and Fukushima (FKS) airports. The airlines have reported that all flights are not affected by the earthquake. Nuclear power plants in the region are also conducting safety checks following the earthquake; as of early March 17, no abnormalities have been confirmed.

It may take some time for damage assessments to be complete and the true extent of the impact of the earthquake is likely to emerge in the coming hours and days. Additionally, aftershocks are likely in the short term, which may hamper recovery and response efforts. A magnitude-5.5 aftershock has already been recorded at around 00:52 March 17.

Advice

Move away from the immediate coastline; tsunamis can be long-duration events, and the threat may persist for hours. Vacate multistoried buildings or unreinforced structures in areas where strong shaking occurred; aftershocks could cause additional damage. Cellular networks may be overwhelmed; use text messaging if services are available. Due to the threat of landslides, seek updated information on road conditions before driving in hilly areas in the affected area.