East Asia was hit by another powerful storm this morning, when one man was killed and transport and industry were disrupted as a typhoon swept across Japan.
A 54-year old newspaper delivery man died when his motorbike crashed into a fallen tree as Typhoon Melor brought heavy rain and winds as strong as 123mph (198kph). Dozens more were injured and factories, as well as the country’s railways and airports, were temporarily shut down.
On the Pacific island of Vanuatu people fled in panic in response to a tsunami warning issued to 25 countries in the region after three powerful undersea earthquakes struck. The waves did not materialise, and the warning was lifted. A strong earthquake also struck southwest of the Philippines, which is still recovering from its own devastating typhoon last week, although it caused no significant damage.
Typhoons are common in Japan at this time of year, but most of them remain out at sea. Melor caused less damage than many people had feared, compared with Typhoon Tokage, which killed 95 people five years ago.
Across the country, roofs were stripped from houses, and an 18ft-wide section of the stone wall of Hikone Castle, which is 500 years old, collapsed. In and around the central city of Nagoya, a road bridge cracked and cars were submerged in river water. According to Japanese television, 9,000 people were evacuated and at least 40,000 homes lost their electricity supply in central Japan, as did more than 10,000 in the greater Tokyo area.
Toyota announced that it was closing all 12 of its automobile factories for the day, and Suzuki suspended work at six of its plants. All 434 elementary and junior high schools were closed in the city of Osaka. The government meteorological agency warned of the danger of mudslides of earth loosened by the heavy rain.
It has been an unusually destructive storm season in East Asia. Typhoon Ketsana killed hundreds of people in the Philippines and Vietnam, and in August more than 600 people died in Typhoon Morakot. In addition, powerful earthquakes and tsunamis killed 3,000 people on the Indonesian island of Sumatra and 150 in Samoa.
So there was widespread alarm this morning when the Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre in Hawaii issued a tsunami warning for the entire southwest Pacific, including Australia, New Zealand and Indonesia, after a series of three earthquakes measuring 7.8, 7.7 and 7.3 on the Richter scale struck between Vanuatu and the Solomon Islands beginning at 9.03am local time (10.0pm GMT).
A 54-year old newspaper delivery man died when his motorbike crashed into a fallen tree as Typhoon Melor brought heavy rain and winds as strong as 123mph (198kph). Dozens more were injured and factories, as well as the country’s railways and airports, were temporarily shut down.
On the Pacific island of Vanuatu people fled in panic in response to a tsunami warning issued to 25 countries in the region after three powerful undersea earthquakes struck. The waves did not materialise, and the warning was lifted. A strong earthquake also struck southwest of the Philippines, which is still recovering from its own devastating typhoon last week, although it caused no significant damage.
Typhoons are common in Japan at this time of year, but most of them remain out at sea. Melor caused less damage than many people had feared, compared with Typhoon Tokage, which killed 95 people five years ago.
Across the country, roofs were stripped from houses, and an 18ft-wide section of the stone wall of Hikone Castle, which is 500 years old, collapsed. In and around the central city of Nagoya, a road bridge cracked and cars were submerged in river water. According to Japanese television, 9,000 people were evacuated and at least 40,000 homes lost their electricity supply in central Japan, as did more than 10,000 in the greater Tokyo area.
Toyota announced that it was closing all 12 of its automobile factories for the day, and Suzuki suspended work at six of its plants. All 434 elementary and junior high schools were closed in the city of Osaka. The government meteorological agency warned of the danger of mudslides of earth loosened by the heavy rain.
It has been an unusually destructive storm season in East Asia. Typhoon Ketsana killed hundreds of people in the Philippines and Vietnam, and in August more than 600 people died in Typhoon Morakot. In addition, powerful earthquakes and tsunamis killed 3,000 people on the Indonesian island of Sumatra and 150 in Samoa.
So there was widespread alarm this morning when the Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre in Hawaii issued a tsunami warning for the entire southwest Pacific, including Australia, New Zealand and Indonesia, after a series of three earthquakes measuring 7.8, 7.7 and 7.3 on the Richter scale struck between Vanuatu and the Solomon Islands beginning at 9.03am local time (10.0pm GMT).
No comments:
Post a Comment