By Satoshi Sugiyama
TOKYO (Reuters) -Residents across Japan’s Pacific coast rushed to higher ground on Wednesday as tsunami warnings following a massive earthquake off Russia’s Far East resurfaced painful memories and lessons from the devastating 2011 earthquake and nuclear disaster.
Television banners flashed “TSUNAMI! EVACUATE!” and similar warnings as most broadcasters cut regular programming to issue warnings and focus on evacuation orders, as tsunami waves approached Japan’s shores.
“Do not be glued to the screen. Evacuate now!” a news presenter at public broadcaster NHK shouted.
The warnings resurfaced memories of the March 11, 2011, earthquake, when more than 15,000 people died after a 9.0-magnitude tremor triggered a massive tsunami that tore through the Fukushima nuclear power plant and caused a radioactive disaster.
Many residents were unable to reach higher ground in time as surging waters from waves that were dozens of metres high engulfed much of the country’s northeastern coast.
On Wednesday, residents recalled those events as evacuation warnings were issued.
“When the earthquake struck before, everyone evacuated to higher ground so I thought about doing the same,” a woman in Fukushima told NHK.
Workers in low-lying areas of Tokyo Electric Power’s Fukushima nuclear facility suspended their decommissioning after the evacuation warning was issued and fled to higher ground. A spokesperson said the evacuation did not pose a safety concern.
More than 2 million people along the Pacific coast were also instructed to head to safer areas. Many recalled lessons learnt from the 2011 disaster – known to locals as “3.11” – and braved heatstroke risks in the intense summer to reach higher ground.
In Japan’s coastal Mie prefecture, a 58-year-old woman died when her car fell off a cliff while she was evacuating, broadcaster TV Asahi reported.
An official at the Japan Meteorological Agency warned that tsunami waves could continue to hit for a day or more.
“I was at the same post office 14 years ago,” a male postal office worker in Iwate prefecture told NHK.
“This time, all of us said ‘let’s evacuate quickly.'”
(Reporting by Satoshi Sugiyama; Editing by Saad Sayeed)
