SENDAI -- For the first time in over four years, a tsunami advisory was issued for areas hit hard by the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake, following a strong earthquake that struck the Tohoku region on Saturday.
Saturday's quake measured as high as upper 5 on the Japanese seismic intensity scale of 7 in Miyagi Prefecture, and came in the wake of tremors of upper 6 intensity as recently on Feb. 13 in coastal areas of the region.
Even a decade since the Great East Japan Earthquake, a succession of strong earthquakes continue to remind local residents of the horror of that day, prompting evacuations to higher ground or inland.
Shortly after the quake hit Saturday evening, a stream of residents of the coastal city of Ishinomaki in Miyagi Prefecture fled to the higher ground of Mt. Hiyori. As the sirens wailed over the public loudspeaker system and from fire trucks, people anxiously looked out to sea, and made phone calls to check in on family members and friends.
A 36-year-old woman said she immediately evacuated by car with her husband and two children, even without checking the latest news of the quake on TV. She said she thought about her mother, who had been killed by the tsunami triggered by the 2011 disaster.
"It was not the usual shaking," she said with a trembling voice of Saturday's quake. "Quakes have been continuing since last month, and I'm scared when I think that another big tsunami might come."
A 50-year-old man of Ofunato, Iwate Prefecture, who had lost two restaurants in the tsunami 10 years ago, made sure his customers and staff were safely evacuated from his rebuilt restaurant near the sea, then rushed inland himself.
"Having experienced the [2011] disaster, I thought that even though the advisory was for Miyagi, there was no guarantee that the tsunami would not come to Ofunato," he said. "As long as things remained uncertain, I thought it was best to evacuate as soon as possible."
Kannoya, a ryokan inn in Soma, Fukushima Prefecture, suffered cracks in the walls of guest rooms from a tremor measuring upper-6 that struck on Feb. 13 off the prefecture. Preparations for reopening were progressing when Saturday's quake made the cracks worse.
"I'm worried that even if we repair the damage, more strong quakes could continue and cause damage all over again," said Takuo Kanno, the 62-year-old owner of the inn.
Later on Saturday, the Japan Meteorological Agency revised the magnitude of the quake from 7.2 to 6.9 and the depth of the focus from 60 kilometers to 59 kilometers.
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