1995. it struck at about 2:46 japan time, shortly after 1:00 a.m. eastern time. 8.8, a monster earthquake. already word from japanese officials that they re going to already in the process now of accepting foreign assistance because the scope of this is going to be unbelievable. let s take a listen now to nhk, the japanese network s live coverage. it s over four meters. soon after the quake. the agency is warning the tsunami could reach between 6 and 10 meters. we re getting reports of several buildings on fire. we do not know the exact amount of damage but we re soon so get a report from japan s meteorological agency. they re setting up to find out the extent of damage. all transportation systems in tokyo as well as northern japan have been stopped. airports closed in tokyo,
seen on television and heard over radio that at 1446 today an earthquake hit of 8.4 on the magnitude scale, centered around the shores offshore sanduku and a very strong earthquake. in the tohoku region mainly over a wide area, damage has been inflicted. i offer my deepest sympathy to the people who have suffered the disaster. regarding our nuclear power facilities, some of the nuclear power plants have stopped automatically. but so far no radioactive material or radiation has been confirmed to have been leaked to the outside. there has been no information of those lines so far. and given the situation, an emergency disaster response headquarters has been set up with myself as the head.
haneda, as well as narita airport. a great earthquake has hit japan. magnitude 8.4 in northern japan. agency has been warning of tsunami ever since the quake. tsunami has hit miyagi, sendai area as live helicopter camera crews are up covering and showing you exactly what is going on at this time. deputy chief cabinet secretary told reporters on friday that miyagi prefecture where the earthquake has hit hardest has asked the government to send self-defense force units to deal with the situation and aid the situation. defense ministry officials say self-defense force personnel are currently contacting local government and related agencies to assess the extent of the damage. earlier prime minister naoto kan and the cabinet have gathered at the prime minister s office, where an emergency task force has been set up to respond to the earthquake.
government will make every effort possible. we will follow the story throughout the morning. you can get all the latest information, obviously, on america this morning, good morning america and abcnews.com. this tragedy unfolding in japan. looking at footage just into our studios, the tsunami, literally a wave caused by that earthquake going, you know, into that northeastern part of the country there, flooding that area. homes and businesses literally being wiped away. people on the roofs of their homes waving for help. you heard the prime minister say a wide area of damage, extending his sympathy to the victims of the unfolding disaster. asking for help from other countries and people will need that help as we start to get an assessment of what is going on. fire is a huge concern as you heard the prime minister discussing at nuclear sites, also a huge concern saying so far no disasters at that point. they shut down automatically. details on this are still coming in. we have he
right now our helicopters in prime minister of japan addressing the unfolding tragedy there. if you re just joining us, this will be the story that we cover all day for the next several weeks and months here. just an 8.8 or 8.9 possibly earthquake striking japan. 2:46 local time, shortly after 1:00 a.m. eastern time here in new york. the images we re seeing are beyond description at this point. triggered a massive 13-foot tsunami that you see swallowing towns in the north eastern part of that country, a rural area, as akiko, our correspondent in tokyo, told us. literally buildings and homes being swallowed up. we understand 4 million buildings have lost power. people are being evacuated, told to leave the coast. this is not an incident isolated to just japan. russia, the philippines, indonesia, taiwan, guam, even the state of hawaii all being told to watch out for possible tsunamis. just extent and strength of this