The meteorological agency issued a tsunami warning for the entire Pacific coast of Japan. National broadcaster NHK was warning those near the coast to get to safer ground.

The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center in Hawaii said a tsunami warning was in effect for Japan, Russia, Marcus Island and the Northern Marianas.

A tsunami watch has been issued for Guam, Taiwan, the Philippines, Indonesia and the U.S. state of Hawaii.

Meanwhile, UK airlines cancelled flights to Tokyo today.

A British Airways plane heading for Tokyo's Hareda airport had pushed back off the stand at Heathrow today when the airline decided it would not be leaving.

BA also cancelled its daily Heathrow service to Tokyo's Narita airport.

The quake struck at a depth of six miles (10 kilometres), about 80 miles (125 kilometres) off the eastern coast, the agency said.

The area is 240 miles (380 kilometre) northeast of Tokyo.

In downtown Tokyo, large buildings shook violently and workers poured into the street for safety.

TV footage showed a large building on fire and bellowing smoke in the Odaiba district of Tokyo.

In central Tokyo, trains were stopped and passengers walked along the tracks to platforms.

Footage on NHK from their Sendai office showed employees stumbling around and books and papers crashing from desks.

Several quakes had hit the same region in recent days, including a 7.3 magnitude one on Wednesday.

Thirty minutes after the quake, tall buildings were still swaying in Tokyo and mobile phone networks were not working. Japan's Coast Guard has set up task force and officials are standing by for emergency contingencies, Coast Guard official Yosuke Oi said.

'I'm afraid we'll soon find out about damages, since the quake was so strong,' he said.

Earthquakes are common in Japan, one of the world's most seismically active areas. The country accounts for about 20 percent of the world's earthquakes of magnitude 6 or greater and on average, an earthquake occurs every 5 minutes.

But Friday's quake, coming a few weeks after New Zealand's city of Christchurch was devastated by a strong earthquake, was petrifying.

'I was terrified and I'm still frightened,' said Hidekatsu Hata, 36, manager of a Chinese noodle restaurant in Tokyo's Akasaka area. 'I've never experienced such a big quake before.'
Asagi Machida, a 27-year-old web designer in Tokyo, was walking near a coffee shop when the earthquake hit. 'The images from the New Zealand earthquake are still fresh in my mind so I was really scared. I couldn't believe such a big earthquake was happening in Tokyo.'

Kyodo news agency reported 14 fires had broken out in Tokyo after the quake, and a refinery in Chiba, just outside the capital, was also ablaze.

Hundreds of people spilt out onto the streets of Tokyo after the quake, with crowds gathering in front of televisions in shop windows for details on the quake. Some passengers on a subway line in Tokyo screamed and grabbed other passengers.

'I dashed out of my office. I sort of panicked and left behind my mobile phone and belongings,' said Aya Nakamura, an office worker in Tokyo.

'You see the crane on top of that tall building under construction? I thought it might fall off the building because all the buildings around me were shaking badly,' she said, standing with her colleague on the street.

At least 19 people have so far been killed in Japan, but the death toll is almost certain to rise.

The quake surpasses the Great Kanto quake of September 1, 1923, which had a magnitude of 7.9 and killed more than 140,000 people in the Tokyo area. Seismologists had said another such quake could strike the city any time.

A 1995 quake in Kobe caused $100 billion in damage and was the most expensive natural disaster in history. For Takeshi Okada, Friday's quake was a chilling reminder of that disaster.

'I was so scared,' said the 36-year-old coffee shop manager in downtown Tokyo.

'I remember seeing what happened with the Kobe earthquake (in 1995) and thought, what if that happens to Tokyo? I'm kind of panicking. I don't want to go outside because something might crash down on me.'

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/travel/article-...l#ixzz1GIJTQD5a

how the sun will rise from the west by science explanation, pole shift..


“Kiamat tidak akan berlaku kecuali apabila ilmu telah diangkat, banyaknya berlaku gempa bumi, timbulnya huru-hara dan banyak pergaduhan iaitu pembunuhan – Sahih Bukhari

(Hadis Riwayat Bukhari)

This post has been edited by hack3line: Mar 11 2011, 08:50 PM

they didn't mention about Malaysia.. but Indonesia is very near

Indonesia on tsunami watch
March 11, 2011 - 8:04PM

Authorities in Indonesia have urged people in regions in the country's east to stay off the water and seek higher ground after a tsunami watch was issued following a magnitude 8.9 earthquake in Japan.

Indonesia's Meteorological, Climatological and Geophysical Agency said waves generated by the earthquake which struck off Japan's north-eastern coast could hit North Maluku, North Sulawesi and Papua by 6pm Jakarta time (2200 AEDT).

A spokesman from Indonesia's Search and Rescue (SAR) said people in Papua in particular should stay away from the water.
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"It will take five to seven hours to reach Papua so people need to be aware and stay off the water and look for higher ground," SAR spokesman Surtoto Purwo Nugroho said.

A tsunami watch is not as serious as a tsunami warning.

The alert was issued after the earthquake struck just 400km north-east of Tokyo at 4.46pm AEDT, triggering a 10-metre high tsunami.

A tsunami warning was issued for Japan and Russia, while tsunami watches were also issued for Taiwan, the Philippines, Hawaii, Guam and other Pacific islands.

source : http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-world...0311-1brc2.html