Japan on alert as 2 powerful typhoons approach

TOKYO - Japan's weather agency warned Wednesday of 2 powerful typhoons approaching, as 1 of them began to affect islands off Kyushu, while the other is expected to make landfall in a few days.

A freighter with 43 foreign crew aboard sent a distress call while traveling about 185 kilometers west of Amami-Oshima Island off southern Kyushu, prompting the Japan Coast Guard to send patrol boats to search for the vessel.

Typhoon Maysak came close to northern Kyushu on Wednesday afternoon, the Japan Meteorological Agency said, warning of heavy rain that could cause mudslides and flooding, as well as high waves and high tides.

More than 100 flights were canceled at airports on Kyushu and Okinawa Prefecture, according to a tally of reports by Japan Airlines and All Nippon Airways, and more cancellations are expected Thursday morning.

Bullet train services between Hiroshima and Hakata stations in western Japan will be suspended Thursday as a precaution, from the first departure of the day until around 8 a.m., said West Japan Railway Co.

Eight people in Okinawa have so far been slightly injured as the typhoon brought about strong gusts of wind. Thunderstorms hit southern Kyushu as well.

As of 6 p.m. Wednesday, Typhoon Maysak was traveling 100 kilometers west of Goto, Nagasaki Prefecture, with an atmospheric pressure of 950 hectopascals at its center and winds of up to 216 km per hour.

In the Pacific to the south, Typhoon Haishen was moving through sea areas with high surface temperatures near the Mariana Islands and is projected to become as powerful as to cause record rain, storms, high waves and high tides.

It is expected to approach southwestern and western Japan from Sunday to Monday with an atmospheric pressure of less than 930 hectopascals, the agency said.

Kyodo News

110,000 people ordered to evacuate after heavy rain in western Japan

Evacuation orders were issued Thursday for 110,000 people in Japan's Kyoto Prefecture amid an escalating risk of mudslides following heavy rain.

The Japan Meteorological Agency warned of landslides and rising river levels as the heavy rain may continue through Sunday in the Kinki region including Kyoto, Hyogo and Osaka prefectures, part of which is still reeling from a deadly quake in June.

At a construction site in Inagawa, Hyogo Prefecture, a worker died after being washed away in a drainage pipe with two others. He is believed to be a 59-year-old man from Wakayama city. The rain also disrupted traffic and caused landslides in the city of Otsu in Shiga Prefecture and the city of Kobe in Hyogo.

Evacuation orders were also issued for locations in Ibaraki, Osaka Prefecture, an area hit by the magnitude-6.1 quake on June 18.

In the city of Kyoto, a rise in the water level of the Kamo River running through the city's central area led authorities to prohibit people from entering its riverside promenade, known as one of the city's sightseeing spots. A bridge across the Katsura River in Arashiyama, another famous tourist attraction in the city, was also closed due to the same reason.

Multiple express and local trains were canceled and an expressway connecting central and western Japan was partially closed, according to railway and road operators.

The weather agency says heavy rain of up to 70 millimeters per hour is expected through Friday in the Kinki region. In the 24-hour period through 6 a.m. Friday, up to 350 mm of rainfall is forecast for the area.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Volcano erupts in Japan, sparks avalanche at ski resort

TOKYO - A volcano eruption near a popular Japanese ski resort sparked an avalanche that injured at least 16 people Tuesday, officials said.

Japan's Meteorological Agency urged nearby residents to stay away from Mt. Kusatsu Shirane after it detected what it said was "slight volcanic activity".

"Today an eruption occurred" at the mountain, agency official Makoto Saito told a news conference.

He warned that the volcano could still spew more rocks and ash, and said there was a risk of further avalanches.

A local fire department official told AFP that 10 people had been injured in the incident.

"Five of them were seriously injured. We began sending the injured to a hospital," he said.

Among the injured were four people hurt by shattered glass while on a ropeway gondola at a ski resort in Gunma, northwest of Tokyo.

The official said an earlier report that one person was missing was not accurate.

The defense ministry said 6 infantry personnel who had been training on the mountain were also hit by the avalanche but had been rescued.

"They are injured but their injuries are not life-threatening," a ministry spokesman said.

Footage broadcast on Japanese television showed thick black smoke interspersed with falling rocks sliding down the snow-covered side of the volcano towards a ski slope.

The falling rocks kicked clouds of snow into the air and they made impact.

"Black smoke rose from the top of the mountain and we were told to evacuate inside 30 minutes later," a man who was at the ski resort told public broadcaster NHK.

"About 100 people have evacuated," he said.

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source: news.abs-cbn.com

Violent Hagupit intensifies, stronger than 'Pablo'

MANILA – Typhoon Ruby (international codename Hagupit), already classified by the US Navy's Joint Typhoon Warning Center (JTWC) as a super typhoon, continues to intensify and is now packing 195 kph winds and gusts of up to 230 kph, weather bureau PAGASA said Thursday.

PAGASA senior weather forecaster Chris Perez said Ruby is already stronger than Typhoon Pablo (Bopha), which hit the country last December 1-9, 2012.

Pablo had maximum sustained winds of 185 kph and gusts of up to 220 kph.

The JTWC said Hagupit was packing one-minute maximum sustained winds of 287 kilometers per hour (155 knots) and gusts of 351 kph (190 knots) as of 8 a.m. Thursday (Manila time).

The Hawaii-based weather bureau, however, said Hagupit's one-minute winds could hit 315 kph (170 knots) and gusts of 379 kph (205 knots) by December 5, Friday, at 8 a.m. (Manila time).

The JTWC said Hagupit could maintain this wind strength until December 6, Saturday, at 8 a.m. (Manila time).

Super typhoon ''Yolanda'' (international codename Haiyan) also had 315 kph winds in November last year.

PAGASA weather forecasters, however, said Ruby is too close to the Philippine landmass and may not reach "Yolanda" intensity winds.

"There is no indication na ma-ri-reach yung Yolanda. Malapit-lapit na siya, mukhang hindi mangyayari na aabutin niya yung strength ni Yolanda," PAGASA acting administrator Vicente Malano said.

The Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA), meanwhile, has categorized Hagupit as a violent typhoon, the highest in the weather bureau's classification of cyclones.

SIGNAL NO.1, SAMAR LANDFALL

Philippine state weather bureau PAGASA, meanwhile, raised public storm warning signal number 1 over Northern Samar, Eastern Samar, Samar, Biliran, Leyte, Southern Leyte, Surigao del Norte, Siargao Island, Surigao del Sur, and Dinagat.

PAGASA said as of 11 a.m. Thursday, Hagupit was spotted 860 kilometers east of Surigao City.

The state weather bureau said Hagupit -- – which was locally named ''Ruby'' after it entered the Philippine area of responsibility today – was packing maximum sustained winds of 195 kph near the center and gusts of up to 230 kph.

It should be noted that PAGASA measures the wind strength of a typhoon at an average of 10 minutes.

PAGASA said Hagupit has slowed down and is now moving west northwest at 20 kph.

PAGASA said Ruby is expected to be 395 kms east southeast of Borongan, Eastern Samar on Friday morning.

On Saturday morning, Hagupit will be 30 kms northeast of Borongan, Eastern Samar.

Hagupit will make landfall over Samar area before noon Saturday.
By Sunday morning, it is expected to be at 20 kms south Southwest of Romblon.

According to PAGASA, an estimated rainfall amount of 7.5 – 20 millimeters per hour (heavy – intense) is expected within Hagupit's 700- km diameter.

PAGASA said Hagupit was still too far to affect any part of the country.

HAGUPIT TRACK

The JTWC said Hagupit was maintaining a ''west-northwestward trajectory under the steering influence of the subtropical ridge."

This means that Hagupit was heading towards the Philippines as its upward movement was being blocked by the subtropical ridge, a large belt of high pressure in the northern hemisphere that is referred to as an anti-cyclone system.

''Expect favorable sea surface temperatures, along with continually favorable upper-level conditions to allow the system to slowly further intensify,'' the JTWC said.

In the JTWC model, Hagupit is seen heading slightly north and towards Luzon, avoiding a direct landfall over the Yolanda-hit region of Visayas.

The JTWC said both models provided by the Coupled Ocean/Atmosphere Mesoscale Prediction System (COAMPS) and Global Forecast System (GFS) have been consistently showing Hagupit moving ''poleward'' due to the weakening of the high pressure system.

The US weather bureau, however, said the models provided by the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMF) and Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory (BFDL) show Hagupit continuing its westward track into central Philippines, indicating that the weakening of the high pressure system may not be pronounced enough to make the weather system re-curve and move towards southern Japan.

With the significant differences in the weather models, the JTWC said there is ''low confidence'' in the accuracy of the extended forecast track of the Hagupit.

''There is low confidence in the extended forecast track due to the significant bifurcation in the models and the possibility of an alternate forecast scenario, with the system either significantly recurving east of the Philippines or tracking westward into the southern Philippines,'' the JTWC said.

RED ALERT

The Global Disaster Alert and Coordination System (GDACS), meanwhile, has raised a red alert for Hagupit.

It said the typhoon ''can have a high humanitarian impact based on the maximum sustained wind speed and the affected population and their vulnerability."

The GDACS said the population that could be affected by Category 1 (120 kph) wind speeds or higher is 800,000.

As of Wednesday evening, the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council and PAGASA said more than 44 provinces have been declared as critical areas. These provinces are expected to experience heavy to intense rains and strong winds.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

Magnitude 6.8 quake hits central Japan; no tsunami warning

TOKYO - An earthquake with preliminary magnitude of 6.8 jolted central Japan on Saturday evening, temporarily trapping 21 people when their homes collapsed and leaving 13 people injured, police and public broadcaster NHK said.

The Japan Meteorological Agency said no tsunami warning was issued after the quake, which was felt in the capital Tokyo 180 km (110 miles) away.

A National Police Agency official said the quake destroyed five houses in Hakuba village, host to ski jumping and other events during the 1998 Nagano Winter Olympic Games, but that the 21 villagers trapped were successfully rescued.

At least two of them were injured, although the degree of their injuries was not immediately clear, he said.

NHK reported 13 people were injured in the quake, including five who were seriously hurt.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga told reporters an advanced party of Japan's military had been sent to the area, and others were on standby.

High-speed trains were halted but later resumed service, Kyodo news agency reported.

There were no signs of irregularities at Tokyo Electric Power Co's (TEPCO) Kashiwazaki Kariwa nuclear plant, a spokesman for the utility said. The plant, where all seven reactors are currently off-line, is the world's largest power station.

NHK quoted an official in the village of Ogawa near the epicentre as saying there was a long tremor and documents fell off shelves.

"On the second floor of our house, the tremor was too strong to stand," said Sakiko Hagiwara, an NHK employee in the area.

"Pictures fell off the wall," she said, adding there were no cracks in the walls.

NHK also said there was a report of a landslide blocking roads near Hakuba.

Japan, situated on the "Ring of Fire" arc of volcanoes and oceanic trenches that partly encircles the Pacific Basin, accounts for about 20 percent of the world's earthquakes of magnitude 6 or greater.

On March 11, 2011, a 9.0 magnitude earthquake struck under the ocean off the coast of the northern city of Sendai. The quake triggered a massive tsunami that devastated a wide swathe of the Pacific coastline and killed nearly 20,000. It also devastated the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, causing meltdowns in the world's worst nuclear disaster in 25 years.

(Additional reporting by Olivier Fabre, Osamu Tsukimori, Kiyoshi Takenaka; Writing by Linda Sieg; Editing by Andrew Roche and David Evans)

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

6.2 quake hits central Japan, flattens houses

TOKYO -- A strong 6.2 magnitude earthquake struck central Japan late Saturday, the US Geological Survey said, flattening houses, as media reported 15 people were briefly trapped under collapsed buildings.

The quake struck at 10:08 pm local time (1308 GMT) at a depth of 10 kilometres (six miles) at the epicentre, in the north of Nagano Prefecture, northwest of Tokyo, according to USGS.

Television footage showed flattened wooden houses, a mudslide blocking a road and books fallen off shelves.

The Japan Meteorological Agency measured the quake at magnitude 6.8.

"It's quite a strong earthquake for an inland one," an official at the Japanese agency told a midnight press conference.

"We are worried about the extent of damage to houses and buildings," he said, adding that residents should also be on alert for possible landslides as mountainous areas were the hardest hit.

The quake toppled at least three houses in Hakuba Village, Nagano Prefecture, local police said, injuring one resident. No further details were immediately confirmed.

Public broadcaster NHK said 15 residents were temporarily trapped under the houses but all of them, including the injured person and a two-year-old toddler, were rescued.

Electricity was cut off at around 1,600 households.

Nagano police said several people sustained minor injuries in the quake.

But police and municipal officials said they were still scrambling to collect information as they were operating in the dark.

Yoshihide Suga, the top spokesman for the central government, told reporters that Tokyo was doing its best to get hold of the overall damage.

"We'd like to ask people in the affected areas to help each other and act calmly," Suga said in a televised remark.

More than 20 aftershocks hit Nagano following the first big strike Saturday.

The meteorological agency warned strong aftershocks could still occur in the coming week.

"It is fully possible that houses already damaged by the main quake could be dealt further blow by aftershocks," the official at the press conference said.

There was no damage to any of the seven nuclear reactors at the sprawling Kashiwazaki-Kariwa plant in neighbouring Niigata prefecture as they have been off-line since 2011.

Other nuclear plants were also intact.

Japan is hit by around a fifth of the world's powerful quakes every year and sits at the conjunction of several tectonic plates.

A strong tremor revives memories of the 9.0 earthquake in March 2011, which triggered a tsunami that sparked the Fukushima atomic disaster and left 18,000 people dead or missing.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

Japan volcano death toll hits 43 as new bodies found

TOKYO - Seven more bodies have been found by rescuers combing the peak of a Japanese volcano that erupted at the weekend, officials said Wednesday, taking the death toll to at least 43.

The seven are in addition to the 36 already known to have died when Mount Ontake burst angrily to life during the busy hiking season, but may not be the last, with reports of more bodies lying near the peak.

"Rescuers found seven more people in cardiac arrest near the mountain top, and are now carrying them down," an official in Otaki village, where one mountain trail begins, told AFP.

Only doctors can declare someone officially dead, so first responders typically report that someone's heart has stopped and they are not breathing.

The find comes after media reports suggested as many as 20 people remain unaccounted for, with an area of the volcano still out of bounds to rescuers as it continues to billow toxic gas and steam.

Some of the around 1,000 troops, police and firefighters combing the volcano succeeded in bringing down 14 of the bodies that were discovered on Sunday, with 10 more still there.

An official at Nagano prefecture's crisis management office said helicopters had been used to ferry the dead from the mountain, whose pock-marked lunarscape bears witness to the huge volume of ask and rocks that were flung from the volcano.

- 'People still missing' -
"We believe there are more people still missing, but we don't know how many they are," he added.

Broadcaster NHK said rescuers had seen more bodies that they had not yet been able to go to.

Hiking is an incredibly popular pastime in Japan, with mountain trails promoted by tourism officials who ask walkers to sign in when they begin their trek and sign out again when they finish.

But a local tourism association told the Asahi Shimbun "usually only 10 to 20 percent of hikers register their names with authorities before entering the mountains in high season".

The report said 327 hikers had registered to be on Mount Ontake at the time of the eruption.

Rescuers are hoping that many of those that cannot be contacted simply forgot to let mountain managers know they were safe.

Nagano Prefecture has posted a notice on its website calling for information on hikers on the list.

However, there exists the grisly possibility that many more perished.

"We don't know if there are people buried deep down under accumulated ash," a senior police official told the Asahi.

The local fire department said 71 people are missing, it said, while the Nagano prefectural police has received hundreds of reports of people whose whereabouts are unknown, a police spokesman told AFP.

Authorities cautioned that some of these reports would likely have nothing to do with the disaster, which happened without warning during a busy weekend.

Hundreds of people were on the slopes of the volcano as rocks, ash and smoke poured from the fractured crater. Many made it down safely, but dozens were trapped on the peak.

Autopsies carried out on the first 12 people whose bodies were retrieved showed they all died from injuries caused by rocks hurled high into the air by the eruption.

Aerial footage showed a sticky blanket of ash smothering the upper slopes where craters that appeared to be up to a metre (three feet) across revealed where some of the projectiles had landed.

The roof of one of the huts near the caldera, where hikers are believed to have sought shelter, had been punctured by rocks as they plunged back to earth.

Volcanic tremors have been detected constantly since Saturday's eruption, with underground water boiling into steam and breaking or moving rocks, a vulcanologist at the meteorological agency said.

The agency warned Wednesday the eruption was still under way, and noted that smoke had been seen issuing from the volcano as of 9:00 am (0000 GMT).

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

Typhoon Neoguri makes landfall on Japan's southern main island

TOKYO - Typhoon Neoguri slammed into Japan's southern main island early Thursday after lashing the Okinawa island chain, with three people killed as powerful winds and torrential rains battered the country.

"It landed near Akune City shortly before 7:00 am (2200 GMT Wednesday)," an official at the Japan Meteorological Agency said.

Akune sits on the western coast of Japan's southern main island of Kyushu.

The typhoon's winds slowed somewhat overnight, with the storm packing gusts of up to 126 kilometres (78 miles) per hour as it moved east at 25 kilometres per hour.

The system is forecast to move along the Japanese archipelago later in the week after crossing Kyushu.

Officials said Neoguri would bring torrential rain and warned of the risk of flooding and landslides, after the storm forced local authorities to advise half a million people to seek shelter in Okinawa earlier in the week.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

Super typhoon takes aim at Japan

TOKYO - A super typhoon described as a "once in decades storm" was heading north for Japan on Monday, set to rake the southern Okinawa island chain with heavy rain and powerful winds before making landfall on Kyushu, Japan's westernmost main island.

Typhoon Neoguri was already gusting at more than 250 km an hour (150 mph) and may pick up still more power as it moves north, growing into an "extremely intense" storm by Tuesday, the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) said.

But it was not expected to be as strong as Typhoon Haiyan, which killed thousands in the Philippines last year.

The storm was south of Okinawa but moving northwest at 20 kph (12 mph) with sustained winds of 180 kph (110 mph), the JMA said on its website, warning of high tides and lashing rain.

"This storm's characteristic is its strength," one JMA official said, calling on people in Okinawa to evacuate early and take precautions, including staying indoors. Television showed fishermen winching their boats out of the water.

There are no nuclear plants on Okinawa, but there are two on Kyushu and one on Shikoku island, which borders Kyushu and could also be affected.

All are halted in line with current national policy. A spokeswoman at Kyushu Electric Power Co said there are no specific plans related to this typhoon but that the company has plans in place throughout this year to protect the plants from severe weather.

The Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, crippled by an earthquake and tsunami in 2011, is on the other side of the country, which is likely to see rain at the worst.

The commander at Kadena Air Base, one of the largest U.S. military establishments on Okinawa, which hosts the bulk of the U.S. forces in Japan, warned that damaging winds were expected by early Tuesday.

"I can't stress enough how dangerous this typhoon may be when it hits Okinawa," wrote Brigadier General James Hecker on the base's Facebook page on Sunday. "This is not just another typhoon."

Though officials warned that parts of western Japan were likely to be hit by torrential rain, Tokyo was likely to be spared the brunt.

Around two to four typhoons a year make landfall in Japan but they are unusual in July.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

Magnitude 6 jolts western Japan, injuries reported

A strong quake registering a preliminary magnitude of 6.0 struck western Japan early Saturday morning and caused a number of injuries, but no tsunami warning was issued, the Japan Meteorological Agency said.

The 5:33 a.m. quake registered lower 6 on Japan's seismic intensity scale of 7 on Awaji Island in Hyogo Prefecture. The quake originated near the island at a depth of around 10 kilometers, the agency said on its website.

The central government has set up a task force at the prime minister's office and Prime Minister Shinzo Abe instructed the Cabinet's crisis management officials to gather information on quake damage and make every effort to help those who are injured, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga told reporters.

The National Police Agency said 19 injuries, including 10 in Hyogo, had been confirmed in five prefectures as of 10 a.m. The Hyogo prefectural government said 14 injuries had been reported by 9:45 a.m.

Local officials on Awaji Island said they have received some reports of damage to building roofs and walls but that no large-scale structural damage has been confirmed.

No quake damage was observed at nuclear facilities in western Japan including the Ikata power plant in Ehime Prefecture, the Shimane plant in Shimane Prefecture and an atomic laboratory in Osaka, their operators said. The Oi nuclear power plant in Fukui Prefecture, the only plant which has currently operating reactors in Japan, was unaffected.

Many train services in Hyogo and surrounding areas were suspended for safety inspections, but they have mostly resumed operations, operators said.

Major airports in the area suffered no damage, the transport ministry said. Four planes delayed landing at Kansai International Airport in Osaka due to the quake, but they all arrived safely.

Other major infrastructure such as roads and bridges were unaffected and there has been no power outage.

In Hyogo, a powerful quake originating off the northern coast of Awaji Island caused extensive damage in Kobe and surrounding areas in 1995, killing over 6,000 people.

The meteorological agency warned of possible aftershocks as strong as lower 5 on the Japanese intensity scale for a week or so.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

Cherry blossoms in Tokyo reach peak

TOKYO -- Cherry blossoms reached full bloom Friday in central Tokyo, 12 days earlier than the 30-year average between 1981 and 2010, and 15 days earlier than last year, the Japan Meteorological Agency said.

It is the second earliest since the weather agency began taking statistics on cherry blooms in 1953, following 2002, when cherry blossoms reached their peak on March 21.

More than 80 percent of buds of sample cherry trees at Yasukuni Shrine in downtown Tokyo were in bloom, the agency said.

On Friday, cherry blossoms were also in full bloom in Kochi on the smallest main island of Shikoku, eight days earlier than the 30-year average, and in Kumamoto on the southwestern main island of Kyushu 10 days ahead.

In Kyoto and Hiroshima, cherry blossoms were seen blooming Friday five to six days earlier than the 30-year average.

source: abs-cbnnews.com

400,000 ordered to evacuate as rains continue to swamp Japan

About 400,000 people were ordered or advised to leave their homes in southwest Japan Saturday as heavy rain pounded the area for a third day leaving 29 dead or missing, officials and media said.

The Japan Meteorological Agency warned of more landslides and floods on the main southern island of Kyushu as rainfall of up to 11 centimeters (4.3 inches) per hour was recorded Saturday.

Evacuation orders were issued to about 260,000 people in the north of the island where more rivers burst their banks, Kyushu's local media reported.

They were told to go to designated shelters such as schools and other public facilities.

Nearly 140,000 other people were advised to leave their homes to avoid possible disaster, according to officials contacted by AFP in the four affected prefectures in Kyushu.

Television footage showed torrents of muddy, debris-strewn water and flooded houses following what officials described as "unprecedented" downpours from a seasonal rain front.

Along the Yamakuni river in Oita prefecture, water levels were seen reaching the roof of a riverside drive-in restaurant before subsiding later.

In Fukuoka prefecture alone, 78,600 people were ordered to evacuate their homes as rivers overflowed in dozens of places and 181 landslides occurred, an official said.

About 820 houses were damaged and three bridges washed away, Fukuoka prefecture spokesman Hiroaki Aoki told AFP by telephone.

"Two men were rescued from landslides but their conditions were not immediately available. One woman was still trapped," he said. "I don't remember any flooding which stretched over such a wide area in our prefecture."

More than 75 centimeters of rain fell in 72 hours in the city of Aso, situated at the foot of a volcano in Kumamoto prefecture, the meteorological agency said.

The death toll remained at 20 overnight, with 19 of the fatalities from landslides and house collapses in and near Aso.

Nine people were missing, with two listed on Saturday after a 30-year-old man fell into a swelling river in his car in Oita and a 83-year-old woman was buried in a landslide in Fukuoka.

source: interaksyon.com