No tsunami threat yet for PH, Phivolcs says

Yahoo! Southeast Asia Newsroom – 21 hours ago

There is no tsunami threat to the Philippines as of 5 p.m., state seismologists said, even as Japan raised a warning in its coastal areas following a 7.3-magnitude earthquake.

"A strong teleseismic earthquake occurred off the East Coast Of Honshu, Japan at 4:18 p.m... with depth of 33 kilometers and a preliminary magnitude of 7.3," the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) said in a bulletin.

Phivolcs noted, however, that the local "tsunami alert Level is zero."
Related story: Strong quake hits off coast of northeastern Japan, tsunami warning issued

"This (bulletin) is for information purposes only and there is no tsunami threat to the Philippines from this earthquake," Phivolcs said.

"No destructive Pacific-wide threat exists based on the historical and tsunami data," it added.

Phivolcs noted, however, that "earthquakes of this size sometimes generate local tsunamis that can be destructive along coast located within a hundred kilometers of the epicenter."

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In Japan, a tsunami warning has been raised for coastal areas of the northeast, media reported.

A warning for a one-metre tsunami was issued for the coast of Miyagi Prefecture, which was devastated in March 2011 when an earthquake-tsunami caused a nuclear meltdown.