Japan lifts tsunami advisory, no casualties

The Japan Meteorological Agency lifted a tsunami advisory for the country''''s Pacific coastal areas on Thursday evening, nearly 15 hours after it raised the alert following a magnitude 8.2 quake off Chile. The agency issued a tsunami advisory at 3 a.m. (1800 Wednesday GMT) and urged citizens in areas covered by the advisory or working along the coast to stay away from the shore and river mouths until the advisory is cleared, saying tsunami waves of as high 1 meter may hit the coasts. There were no reports of casualties and damage from tsunami. The waves of 60 cm were observed at a port in Kuji City in Iwate prefecture, about 550 km north of Tokyo, at 12:22 p.m. (0322 GMT), the agency said, adding that minor tsunami also reached many coastal zones. Tsunami waves of 20 cm also arrived at Pacific coast in Fukushima Prefecture, home to the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, which was crippled by the 2011 earthquake-tsunami disaster. According to the Fire and Disaster Management Agency evacuation advisories were issued to 30,000 people living in three prefectures in northeastern Japan. Tsunami waves were spawned by the massive earthquake struck off the northern coast of Chile on Tuesday local time.