Source: Jamaica Observer
PRIME Minister Bruce Golding has expressed concern at the safety of Jamaicans living in Japan after the tsunami that devastated the Asian country today.
Japanese police have announced that 200-300 bodies have just been found in a northeastern coastal area. Earlier today authorities said at least 40 people were killed and 39 missing.
"Jamaica has had long, strong and very close ties with the people of Japan. There are several Jamaican nationals working and studying there so we are deeply concerned about their safety. We pray for all the people of Japan that they will be kept safe and that the rescue operations by international community will be as successful as is humanly possible," Golding said in a statement moments ago.
The prime minister added that he hoped that rescue efforts being offered by the international community will help keep the death toll to a minimum and save lives still under threat.
The 8.9 offshore earthquake, which is is the biggest to have hit Japan’s northeast coast, this morning triggering a 7-metre tsunami that swept away buildings, ships and cars.
The quake was followed by at least 19 aftershocks, most of them of more than magnitude 6.0. The death toll is likely to continue climbing given the scale of the disaster.
Dozens of cities and villages along a 1,300-mile (2,100-kilometre) stretch of coastline were shaken by violent tremors that reached as far away as Tokyo, hundreds of miles (kilometres) from the epicentre.
Tsunami waves have since hit Hawaii and are sweeping through the island chain after an earthquake in Japan sparked evacuations throughout the Pacific and as far as the US western coast.
The Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre said Kauai was the first island hit early Friday by the tsunami. Water rushed ashore in Honolulu, swamping the beach in Waikiki and surging over the break wall in the world-famous resort but stopping short of the area's high-rise hotels.
Waves at least 3 feet (a metre) high were recorded on Oahu and Kauai, and officials warned that the waves would continue and could become larger.
