Worried but well-prepared Japan escapes tsunami damage

This article was originally on a blog post platform and may be missing photos, graphics or links. See About archive blog posts.

A nervous Japan on Sunday prepared for Godzilla. What it got instead was closer to the car insurance gecko.

Fearing a major tsunami could be triggered by Chile’s 8.8-magnitude earthquake, authorities here ordered nearly a quarter of a million households along the island nation’s eastern seaboard to evacuate to higher ground.

Disaster workers expected 10-foot waves or larger. Instead, by Sunday evening, only a few insignificant 6-inch to foot-high waves lapped onto Japanese-controlled shores.

‘I was watching television all day and I was worried,’ said Yufuko Goto, a 19-year-old waitress. ‘They were evacuating people. And I thought that something really big was coming our way.’

Continue reading A worried but well-prepared Japan escapes tsunami damage by John M. Glionna.