Return to Transcripts main page

CNN This Morning

Tsunami Warning in Japan After Massive 7.5 Magnitude Quake. Aired 8-8:30a ET

Aired January 01, 2024 - 08:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:00:31]

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, everyone, and happy New Year. I'm John Berman, and we are following breaking news out of Japan this morning. A powerful earthquake measuring 7.5 has triggered evacuations and a tsunami warning. You're looking at the moment the quake struck, video from along the coast there. You can see the shaking. It went on for some time.

Here's more video from the Ishikawa Prefecture in Japan. The population there is about a million people. This is on the western coast of Japan, about 185 miles from Tokyo. Again, from this footage, you can see just how long this shaking went on for. You can see the poles there on the left starting to sway. Ultimately, this did lead to some building collapses, and shortly, you'll see, dust rising from the collapsed building there on the left side of your screen.

Again, very powerful shaking, felt by millions of people. About a million people or so in the more severe area where this earthquake struck. Japanese officials have not lowered their tsunami alert from a major tsunami warning. It is now a tsunami warning, period. They could expect waves of up to 10 feet there. And the aftershocks, they're warning, could last days.

We are getting new video from inside a parking garage. You can see here, these cars just shaking there inside this solid structure. Again, you get a sense of the power of this earthquake.

We have team coverage this morning. Derek Van Dam is tracking the tsunami threat. We're going to start with Hanako Montgomery, who is live from Tokyo. Give us the latest from there.

HANAKO MONTGOMERY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, good morning, John. So right now, as you mentioned, the tsunami warning has been lowered. We're still expecting to see 10 feet of waves, though, so still very, very frightening and daunting for many people living in Ishikawa Prefecture. Just to note some of the damage that we've been seeing, at least 33,000 homes have lost power. Others have collapsed. We're seeing reports of people being trapped under their homes, as well.

We're also knowing that about 1,000 self-defense force personnel have been dispatched and they're trying to confirm any of the survivors in Ishikawa Prefecture. We also know that 20 self-defense force planes and also other vessels are trying to confirm just the extent of this damage. So this powerful, powerful earthquake was also a shallow earthquake, which is very significant to note, because with shallow earthquakes, they can actually trigger very powerful and destructive tsunamis. Even though the tsunami level has been dropped down to just a tsunami warning, we are still expecting to see large waves coming out of the western part of Japan, John.

BERMAN: Hanako, I think in everyone's memories of what happened in 2011 in Japan with the powerful earthquake there and the destruction, the Fukushima nuclear power plant, any concerns this morning as the morning or the evening develops in Japan, about things like that, power plants, nuclear power?

MONTGOMERY: Yes, John, so, we're getting information from the Japanese government that there are currently no nuclear abnormalities at any of the nuclear power plants close to the epicenter near Ishikawa Prefecture. However, of course this moment, this terrible, terrible moment in Japanese history, the 2011 earthquake and tsunami, is very present in many people's minds. Today is New Year's Day here in Japan, when people are celebrating with their families, with their friends at home, and suddenly, their TVs are telling them to evacuate, to get to higher ground. And just a very frightening moment for many people in the country, specifically on western Japan, that coast, where you actually don't historically see very many earthquakes of this size. So, again, just a lot of scared feelings and just a lot of tension right now to see what kind of damage this subsequent tsunami could bring to western Japan, John.

BERMAN: Yes, frayed nerves in the region, to be sure. Hanako Montgomery, keep us posted throughout the rest of the morning.

With us now is meteorologist Derek Van Dam, who is following the tsunami threat. Derek, what are you seeing?

DEREK VAN DAM, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes, just seeing video of this stirs up emotions from 2011, when I covered the tsunami that reached the east coast of Japan.

[08:05:00]

But this is some of the latest video of the tsunami wave that reached the western shorelines of the Honshu region. So we're looking at a tsunami wave traveling up the Sake (ph) River in a town called Jutsu (ph). It has got a population of about 200,000 people. And this wave height that we're seeing, this is some new video, so we're getting it as it comes, telling you and analyzing it in real-time, really fits the narrator of some of the observed tsunami wave heights that we have experienced and seen along those western bay and shorelines of western Japan.

The tsunami warning, as compared to what was a major tsunami warning from the Japan Meteorological Agency, there's a difference. The major tsunami warning was waves up to five meters or roughly 16 feet. Now with a tsunami warning, that downgrade, that means waves up to three meters. That's roughly 10 feet. So that's still possible within this area highlighted in red. But tsunami advisories stretch the entire coastline, as far north as Hokkaido. And just looking at the basic geometry of this area, here's the Korean peninsula, here's Russia. There is nothing preventing the sloshing effect to take place from such a magnitude, such a powerful earthquake near this Ishikawa Prefecture to propagate that wave, slosh back and forth, and that is why we have these tsunami warnings that are ongoing several hours after that initial earthquake that struck.

Here's a look at some of those observed wave heights you can see matching that narrative of about four feet in height for some of those locations. And really what's happening here is the fact that this was such a shallow earthquake. It was about roughly 10 kilometers or six miles underground, under the sea floor. And that displaced the water, forcing a wave at the surface of the ocean. And some of the buoys within this area, just off the west coast of Japan, measured a one meter observed tsunami height, far away from the coastline. That's significant, because that means that just basic bathymetry shows us that that the natural curve of the coastline as it edges closer to the population density, that wave has nowhere to go but up.

And that is why they initially projected this five-meter potential tsunami wave threat, waves up to 16 feet. Now they're starting to get more information where communication is lacking because of the lack of power and communication lines, and they have downgraded that to a tsunami warning, so waves potentially upwards of 10 feet.

But nonetheless, John, this was a powerful earthquake. We expect the aftershocks to continue. In fact, 50 million people felt some sort of shaking from this particular event, and there have already been over 15 aftershocks reported in and around this part of Japan.

BERMAN: As you said, millions and millions of people did feel the effects of this earthquake, which measured 7.5. It happened on the western coast of Japan, which is not one of the areas that I think we're really used to seeing earthquakes in Japan. This threat that you're talking about, how long will it go on for, Derek? When will people there breathe a sigh of relief?

VAN DAM: Well, in terms of the shaking, so let's talk about aftershocks. This is just going off of previous earthquakes with similar magnitudes, we have aftershocks that can last for hours, days, even weeks after the initial magnitude earthquake, a 7.5 earthquake. And the way that's broken down, because this is a level of magnitude, depending on how far you go back in terms of power and strength of the actual earthquake. So on average, with a quake of 7.5 originally, we have at least one earthquake, an aftershock, I should say, of 6.5 or greater. And typically with this scenario, we also experience 10 or so aftershocks of magnitude of 5.5 or higher.

So putting this all together, you've got to think about the type of construction that houses the homes, the apartment complexes in this area. It is a mixture of concrete in some of the more sturdier earthquake susceptible areas, but also some buildings and structures could made out of wood. So they have been destabilized. So initial aftershocks could potentially take down those buildings easier than it would be with the original earthquake. And then we've got to think about just the natural curvature of the Ishikawa Prefecture with the magnitude 7.5 earthquake occurring just offshore that is going to wrap around waves, and that's going to splash in between these bays and coastline that face west across this area.

BERMAN: Yes, these aftershocks, they can be unnerving for people who are, I think, already vulnerable there, but also extremely dangerous, given what just happened with this very powerful earthquake. Derek Van Dam who's watching this very closely for us, keep us posted. We'll check back in with you in a bit.

We are getting some new video just in, where you can see the power of this earthquake, just from inside a home where you can see that baby swing there just going back and forth and back and forth.

[08:10:05]

Not to mention what's on the TV screen there you can see out the window. It's a 7.5 magnitude earthquake hitting Japan on New Year's Day. We're going to speak to the "New York Times" Tokyo bureau chief ahead. Stay with us. This is CNN's special live coverage.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BERMAN: We are following breaking news out of Japan this morning, where a powerful 7.5 magnitude earthquake triggered tsunami warning and evacuations in parts of the country. You can see where it hit, in the western coast of Japan. It happened several hours ago. We are seeing new video come in. You can see fire there that ignited sometime after the quake. This is the first time we're seeing this.

Let's get more on this from Dr. Mohammad Heidarzadeh, senior lecturer at the University of Bath and secretary general of the Joint Tsunami Commission of the International Union of Geodesy Physics (ph). Doctor, thank you so much for being with us. What is your unique concern with this earthquake?

MOHAMMAD HEIDARZADEH, SENIOR LECTURER, UNIVERSITY OF BATH: Thank you, John, for having me. The main problem here is that we are having a big earthquake, a magnitude 7.5. Some agencies there reported a magnitude 7.6. And at a very shallow depth of only 10 kilometers. And this means that this is a favorable situation for making a large tsunami, as you see the waves here. And the major problem here, the major concern is that we have nine nuclear power plants at this segment of the coast of Japan, because Japan, because of lots of earthquakes that they have, at the west side, they moved many of their nuclear plants to the west side of the country around this area at the coast of Sea of Japan and the safety of these nine nuclear plants are very important.

[08:15:00]

BERMAN: Just so people know, we are not getting reports currently of any abnormalities at any of these nuclear power plants. And obviously, as Professor, you were saying, that is a major concern given what happened in 2011 with the Fukushima plant on the other side of Japan.

But as of now, and again, we're watching this very closely, no abnormalities at the nuclear plants.

Given that this happened on the western coast of Japan and if people look at a map, they can see the water there, the bay is between Japan and Korea and Russia there. We've been hearing some concerns that basically the water can cattle go back and forth, and back and forth there. What would that do?

HEIDARZADEH: Yes, definitely. This is actually an challenge that we have at this part of Japan, because they are having like a closed basin, and if we have a tsunami in a closed space, then the tsunami will be oscillating for 24 hours, sometimes 48 -- two days, 48 hours, two days, and this is going to be making large waves and the superposition of the waves could be making lots of lots of waves, very large waves.

And this is very different from the east side of Japan, because at the east side, we have the open ocean, and the tsunami waves would dissipate into the ocean very rapidly, but here, the waves are kind of trapped and these trapped waves have been responsible, actually, for many problems, many -- the main disruptions in other parts of the world and this is a major concern and I'm sure that my Japanese colleagues are aware of that.

And that's why they are asking everyone to stay away from the coast for a long period of time, at least half a day, and maybe it is better to stay away one day, because the largest wave is going to be coming maybe in the next few hours.

BERMAN: Oh, that's interesting. The largest wave coming maybe in the next few hours, stay away from the coast for half a day, maybe a full day.

What's the impact of aftershocks on this prognosis?

HEIDARZADEH: Actually, aftershocks are really unknown territory, because we are not really -- we are going to have everything from aftershocks because if some of these aftershocks trigger submarine landslides, some more landslides, and they also could trigger large tsunamis, and we have precedent of these kinds of situations.

For example, in Indonesia in 2018, we had a large, massive submarine landslide, which caused a tsunami that killed more than 4,000 people. So that's why these are the reasons that we have to stay away from the coast at least half a day and up to one day and to watch the coast closely, because the largest aftershocks are going to happen, usually, within one day after the main shock.

BERMAN: The training and the preparedness that goes in to this for people who live along the coasts and earthquake prone areas. How important is that?

HEIDARZADEH: I have been living in Japan, myself, over five years, and I've seen that the Japan government is spending a lot and investing a lot on tsunami education because the challenge that we have is that the source of the earthquake, the source of the tsunami is very close to the coastal area that's why many of the tsunami warning systems are not effective, because the lead time is very short, like 10 minutes, like 20 minutes, and that's the place that the tsunami education is very important.

We have to, as soon as we feel some shaking, we have to just evacuate. We shouldn't really look back or wait for something -- just evacuate as soon as you have. And I think this is very simple -- it looks very simple, but still we are actually facing lots of problems in terms of the coastal evacuation.

And still, some people in some parts of the world are staying, watching, and this is not really helpful. And certainly, we saw that in Indonesia in 2018.

Of course, Japan is much more prepared. They have lots of tools. They have lots of tsunami warnings on their cell phones and there are sirens on the coast and we hope that this situation is going to be very, very better than 2011.

BERMAN: Professor, we do appreciate your time this morning. I know you'll be watching this for several more hours.

Thank you so much.

HEIDARZADEH: Thank you.

BERMAN: All right, the breaking news this morning, this powerful earthquake, magnitude 7.5 hit the western coast of Japan. There is a tsunami warning in effect.

Evacuations called for. We are seeing the impact of some aftershocks, new video that we're just seeing now of store shelves there. You can see everything just scattered on the floor from the power of this.

New video coming in just now, we are getting some reports from the destruction.

Our live special coverage continues right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:23:50]

BERMAN: All right, there is breaking news out of Japan this morning.

A powerful 7.5 magnitude quake triggered a tsunami warning and evacuation for parts of the country, the western part of the country.

The earthquake struck western Japan several hours ago. We are getting our first look at new videos coming in where you can see the shaking and get a sense of the power of this earthquake.

Japanese officials there have just lowered the tsunami warning level. They still do warn though that waves of up to 10 feet could hit the coast. You're seeing a little bit of the impact right here of that, and this threat will continue for several hours, another half day to a day we just heard from the tsunami expert, so by no means are they out of the woods just yet.

With us now is "The New York Times" Tokyo bureau chief, Motoko Rich.

Thank you so much for being with us this morning. Just give me a sense, did you feel the shaking all the way in Tokyo about 180 miles away?

MOTOKO RICH, TOKYO BUREAU CHIEF, "THE NEW YORK TIMES" (via phone): I did. It was really strong, actually.

We were just hanging out in the living room, it is New Year's Day and then all of a sudden we could really -- we could see that the pictures were rattling in their frames on the walls and the whole room was swaying and a little alarm went off.

So I knew right away it was very strong and turned the TV on to see where the epicenter was.

[08:25:04]

BERMAN: What are people in Japan hearing now from the Japanese government?

RICH: So like you said, they've downgraded the major tsunami warning, which was in place for most of the afternoon and evening to just a warning, and there are also advisories pretty much all the way up and down the west coast.

But we are starting to get some reports of damage coming out of the epicenter in the Noto Peninsula. It sounds like there are quite a number of buildings that have collapsed and maybe some people trapped in the rubble. We don't know yet any confirmation of fatalities. But unfortunately, I think there will be a few, you know, buckled roads, stopped train, stopped planes.

And as I'm sure your video footage is showing, you know, lots of damage of roofs and tiles, of stuff strewn all over the floors.

BERMAN: Yes, at this point, we're seeing a lot of videos of shaking, and we're seeing some smaller waves there, but we have not yet had a sense from the ground of the level of disruption in some of the more heavily populated areas.

In Tokyo and on the eastern side of Japan, since 2011, you see all kinds of signs and remnants of the Japanese government and their preparations for earthquakes and tsunamis based on what happened there in 2011. Is it the same on the west coast, Motoko?

RICH: Definitely, I think so.

I mean, it's an island country surrounded by water, so the kind of fear and anxiety that was produced by that devastating earthquake and tsunami in 2011, don't forget it killed 20,000 people or more, and still many missing, you know, really shook the psyche of the country, and there have been preparations all over with walls being built, and people really understanding the meaning of an evacuation order, meaning you've got to go now, because when the waves come, they can come very quickly.

You know, this time around, it seems, fingers crossed, that it hasn't been nearly as bad as it was in 2011, but I think people take these warnings really seriously now. That was a very, very catastrophic event.

BERMAN: And as you said, part of the issue, there was what happened to the Fukushima plant, which is absolutely part of the Japanese psyche. Now, at this point, we're not hearing of any abnormalities, is that correct, from the nuclear power plants in the western part of this country, particularly in the highly affected area?

RICH: Pretty much because the plants have been shut down since the Fukushima earthquake. You know, there are not very many of the 50-some odd plants, and some of them have already been decommissioned, so there are probably less than that now.

But many of the plants never restarted after 2011, and those in the region were not operating before this earthquake, that being said, there is one with two reactors, right in Ishikawa Prefecture, which was the epicenter. They didn't report any radioactive abnormalities, thank goodness.

But they did say that there was some power cut to a cooling pump for the spent fuel rods, for the nuclear fuel rods that need to be cooled, you know, for a very long period of time after they're taken out of the reactors.

Those cooling pumps stopped for something like 25 minutes, but they're back online, and they say there are no problems with that now.

So for the moment, there doesn't seem to be any problem reported at any of the nuclear power plants in the affected regions.

BERMAN: And Motoko, while we have you here, again, I think, in the United States, people's familiarity with Japan is largely Tokyo, Kyoto, the area around there.

The western part of the country where it is not somewhere where most Americans have familiarity with, can you give us a sense of what's there? The geography? How populated it is?

RICH: Well, at this point, Japan is depopulating, and to the extent that there are population centers, they are what you described. They are the big cities -- Tokyo, Osaka, Kyoto -- so it's not a particularly populated area, probably a lot of older people there which is definitely a worry.

We heard a report earlier this evening about one of the evacuation centers was itself a nursing home and that, you know, very concerning I've covered other events, earthquakes and other disasters, where that's one of the biggest troubles is trying to evacuate people who might not have a lot of mobility, might have some problems with dementia, so they might not be responding to commands or orders to evacuate. So that's one of the biggest problems for these kinds of disasters at the moment. The governor of this prefecture did call in the Self-Defense Forces

for help so that can often be an assistance to the overwhelmed police. The police are saying they're getting too many calls to respond to, so that's part of the problem that they, you know, the population is so low that even like the hospitals, they can't get enough doctors there to treat the people who are coming in.

BERMAN: Such a good point I hadn't thought of, yes, particularly with the aging population in some parts of Japan.

Motoko Rich, thank you so much for being with us. We're glad you are okay. It's been quite a New Year so far in Japan. Be safe.

RICH: Thanks so much.

BERMAN: Meteorologist, Derek Van Dam is with us now.

Derek has been tracking the tsunami warning. What are you seeing at this point, Derek? And what do you expect in the next few hours?

VAN DAM: Yes, John, latest information from the Japan Meteorological Agency -- remember, they are the local on the ground agency that's going to issue the tsunami warnings. They continue with the advisories and warnings across those west-facing shorelines of Honshu, northward towards Hokkaido and anywhere you see that shading of red, there is the epicenter of the earthquake, just off of the Ishikawa Prefecture.

[08:30:21]