Japan earthquake 1 Jan,2024

The powerful earthquake that hit Japan's western coast on New Year's Day has underscored the country's exposure to natural disasters, casting fresh doubt over a push to bring its nuclear capacity back online.

Nuclear power plants dot the coast of mountainous Japan, which is prone to earthquakes and tsunamis due to its location on the seismically active "Ring of Fire" around the Pacific Ocean.

Monday's magnitude-7.6 earthquake, which has killed more than 80 people in the Hokuriku region, destroyed infrastructure and left homes without power, struck days after regulators lifted an operational ban on the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear power plant operated by Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO).

At least 64 people were killed in the massive earthquake of 7.5 magnitude that struck the Noto Peninsula and surrounding areas in central Japan on Monday, Kyodo News reported. The rubble and severed roads still prevent search and rescue operations in the quake-hit regions.

The earthquake has caused structural damage and fires in the city of Wajima in Ishikawa Prefecture. However, the full extent of the disaster caused by the powerful earthquake remains unknown.

The northern area of the remote Noto Peninsula was restricted access for more than 24 hours after the earthquake, although the Meteorological Agency of Japan cancelled all tsunami advisories along portions of the country's western coast on Tuesday.

Following a disaster emergency meeting on Tuesday, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida informed the media that the location was no longer accessible due to a wrecked road.

According to fire department officials, 25 buildings, including houses, have collapsed in Wajima City, NHK World reported, adding that firefighters have also been pressed into the ongoing rescue operations across locations.

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A total of about 200 buildings, including shops and houses, are believed to have been burned around Asaichi Street, a popular tourist spot. The United States Geological Survey reported that the earthquake occurred on the Noto Peninsula of Ishikawa prefecture around 4.10 pm (local time), at a depth of 10 kilometres

The death toll from the New Year's Day 7.5-magnitude quake rose to 98 and was expected to rise further as 211 people in the Ishikawa region of Japan's main Honshu island were still unaccounted for.

Japan earthquake toll reaches 98, over 450 injured, 211 still missing

TEPCO hopes to gain local permission to restart the plant, which is around 120 kilometers from the quake's epicenter and has been offline since 2012. The utility was banned in 2021 from operating the plant due to safety breaches, including a failure to protect nuclear materials.

"The Japanese public is still generally less positive toward nuclear power now than they were before the Fukushima disaster," analysts at Rystad Energy wrote in a client note.

"As a result, public sentiment – and potentially government policy – is likely to be sensitive to any new power-plant disruptions caused by the most recent quake or any future ones."

Japan had planned to phase out nuclear power after the March 2011 tsunami and Fukushima meltdown, but rising energy prices and repeated power crunches have prompted a shift towards restarting idled capacity and developing next-generation reactors.

After the January 1 quake, TEPCO reported water had spilled from nuclear fuel pools at the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa plant – the world's largest – but said radiation levels were normal.

"Citizens had felt that TEPCO could probably be able to restart reactors by the end of 2024, but this earthquake seems to have reignited a sense of fear," said Yukihiko Hoshino, a Kashiwazaki city assembly member opposing the plant restart.

Monday's tsunami warning reminded him of the Fukushima disaster, he said.

TEPCO shares fell as much as 8 percent on Thursday, the first trading day since the earthquake, before closing up 2.2 percent.

Hokuriku Electric, whose idled Shika plant is located around 65 kilometers from the earthquake's epicenter, slid as much as 8 percent before paring losses to end down 2.2 percent.

The company, which reported water spillover from spent nuclear fuel pools and oil leaks at the plant after the quake, hopes to restart the No. 2 reactor there sometime after April 2026, it said in October.

"Today's heavy selling was mostly due to overall market sentiment and initial panic selling," said Tatsunori Kawai, chief strategist at Au Kabu.com Securities.

"Traders later realized that this heavy selling cannot be justified," he added.

Rystad said it does not immediately see Japan, the world's second-largest importer of liquefied natural gas (LNG), tapping spot markets as it did after an earthquake in March 2022.

While prolonged power plant outages, like in 2022, could trigger purchases of the super-chilled fuel, spot power prices indicated business as usual, Rystad said.

(Cover: Firefighters conduct a search in Suzu City, Ishikawa Prefecture, Japan, on January 5, 2024. /CFP)

India expresses solidarity with Japan after earthquake

Prime Minister Narendra Modi conveyed his heartfelt concerns to Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida in a letter following the devastating earthquake that struck Japan on January 1, 2024.

According to sources, expressing deep anguish, Prime Minister Modi extended his condolences to the families who lost their loved ones due to the tragic event. And, he stressed India’s unwavering solidarity with Japan during these challenging times.

apan and India share a special strategic and global partnership, making the bond between the two nations crucial. “Prime Minister Modi acknowledged the importance of this relationship and assured Japan that India is prepared to provide any assistance needed in the aftermath of the disaster,” sources quoted above added.

About the Earthquake:-

The earthquake that struck Japan on January 1, 2024, not only brought devastation to the land but also resulted in additional challenges. Almost 50 people were killed and several thousands were evacuated as 155 earthquakes jolted Japan earlier this week.  Reports in the public domain indicate: Since Monday (Jan 1, 2024), according to the Japan Meteorological Office, the island nation has been hit by as many as 155 earthquakes, including an initial 7.6 magnitude jolt and another more than 6.

And this was followed by the authorities issuing tsunami warnings soon after the initial earthquake, as the waves as high as 5-feet were hitting the country. The waves caused cars and some houses to get washed into the sea.

The death toll from a series of powerful earthquakes in Japan on New Year's Day rose to 73 on Thursday, as the search for survivors under collapsed buildings continued for the fourth day.
All the deaths have been reported in Ishikawa prefecture where the hardest hit Noto peninsula is located. More than 33,000 people have evacuated their homes and about 1,00,000 houses have no water supply, Reuters reported, citing local government. More than 300 people have been injured, and at least 25 of them are in serious condition.

According to satellite imagery, Japan's Noto Peninsula was rattled and slightly enlarged when a 7.6-magnitude earthquake struck on January 1.

 Locals fishing in a bay on the peninsula reported that "the entire coastline was uplifted at the time of the earthquake, that the uplift in the bay occurred at the same time as the earthquake, and that the tsunami in the bay did not run up to the raised port," the university's statement said, according to a 

Preliminary satellite analysis and on-the-ground surveys have found that the earthquake raised land along the coast — a process called uplift — by as much as 4 meters, roughly 13 feet.