On Monday, a slew of strong earthquakes slammed Japan, leaving at least 48 people dead. Both landslides and fires have caused damage to thousands of buildings. A Japanese coast guard plane traveling to Niigata Airport to bring relief to the earthquake-affected area crashed with a Japan Airlines flight on Tuesday just before 6 p.m. local time (10 a.m. CET). At Tokyo's Haneda Airport, the passenger airliner crashed with flames on the runway.
According to Japan Airlines, all 379 passengers and crew members have been evacuated; however, five out of the six passengers aboard the coast guard plane are still missing, according to Japanese network NHK.
On the central west coast of Japan, the prefecture of Ishikawa received a major tsunami warning. Lower-level tsunami advisories or warnings were issued on Monday afternoon for the northern island of Hokkaido and the remainder of the western coast of Honshu. Those who live in coastal areas have been cautioned not to return home just yet. The warning was decreased several hours later, and as of early Tuesday, all tsunami warnings had been lifted. Certain areas are affected by waves that are longer than one meter.
Along with Iki and Tsushima Islands, the Sea of Japan coast in the prefectures of Ishikawa, Yamagata, Niigata, Toyama, Fukui, Hyogo, Hokkaido, Aomori, Akita, Kyoto, Tottori, and Shimane are among the impacted places. On New Year's Day, there were earthquakes in the vicinity of the Noto peninsula in the western Japanese prefecture of Ishikawa.
Because Japan is situated along the Pacific Rim, an arc of fault lines and volcanoes, it is frequently struck by earthquakes.
