Tsunami Advisory Issued for Japan's Pacific Coast

Tokyo, June 8 (Jiji Press)--The Japan Meteorological Agency on Monday issued a tsunami advisory for a wide stretch of Japan's Pacific coast, from Ibaraki Prefecture in eastern Japan to the southwestern prefecture of Kagoshima, following a major earthquake that struck off the Philippine island of Mindanao the same day.

The advisory, issued at 9:05 a.m., also covered Tokyo's Izu and Ogasawara island chains in the Pacific and the Okinawa-Amami region straddling Okinawa Prefecture, southernmost Japan, and Kagoshima. It was fully lifted at 4:50 p.m. Tsunamis of up to 1 meter were forecast to reach Japan. The earthquake occurred around 8:40 a.m. Japan time.

The first tsunami wave, measuring several centimeters, was recorded in the city of Okinawa in Okinawa Prefecture around 12:58 p.m.

Tsunamis of up to 30 centimeters were observed in the city of Miyazaki in the southwestern prefecture of the same name, while waves of up to 20 centimeters were logged on Chichijima, an island in the Ogasawara chain, in the town of Kushimoto in Wakayama Prefecture, western Japan, and on the Kagoshima island of Tanegashima.

Ayataka Ebita, director of the agency's Earthquake and Tsunami Observation Division, told a press conference in Tokyo that areas that had been covered by the advisory may continue to see sea level changes for a prolonged period. Ebita called on people to take full precautions when working in the sea or fishing.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]