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Earthquake, tsunami wreak havoc in Japan

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A tsunami more than 7.3 meters high hit the Soma port in the Fukushima Prefecture of Japan on Friday, NHK Television reported.

A tsunami more than 7.3 meters high hit the Soma port in the Fukushima Prefecture of Japan on Friday, NHK Television reported.

The death toll from a massive earthquake that hit the north-east of Japan on Friday has now reached 30, local TV reported.

Tsunami more than 4 meters high hit the ports of Kamaishi and Miyako in Iwate Prefecture, the Meteorological Agency said.

A tsunami over 3 meters high was observed at the Oarai port in the Ibaraki Prefecture, the city of Ishinomaki city in the Miyagi Prefecture, and the Ofunato port in the Iwate Prefecture.

NHK helicopter footage on live TV showed a large number of houses being washed away in Miyagi Prefecture and elsewhere.

In Soma City in Fukushima Prefecture, many oceanside houses are under water.

A large number of buildings and oil facilities can be seen burning in wide areas of the Pacific coast.

NHK showed footage of waves sweeping away buildings and vehicles as far as 1.5 kilometers inland. Airports were closed down and train services suspended. More than 4 million homes are without power.

The country's Meteorological Agency is urging people in quake-hit areas to evacuate to higher ground to avoid tsunamis.

More earthquakes measuring over 7.0 on the Richter scale could occur in and around Japan within a month, the Meteorological Agency said.

The 8.9-magnitude quake that struck about 373 kilometers from the capital Tokyo sparked a tsunami that hit Miyagi and Iwate prefectures, sweeping away houses and cars.

A 10-meter tsunami subsequently hit the Miyagi prefecture on Honshu.

Honsu's Iwate prefecture was reported to have been hit by a 4.2-meter tsunami. Dozens of cars fell into the sea when a highway in Iwate was partly destroyed by the quake.

MOSCOW, March 11 (RIA Novosti)

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