Japan Earthquake Felt in Ski Resorts
2nd January 2024
Last modified on January 5th, 2024
Buildings shook, sirens went off and alerts were issued in some resorts near the epicentre. The authorities feared avalanches might be triggered. UPDATED
77 people are now known to have died in the country, with infrastructure destroyed.
The earthquake stuck at the Noto Peninsula and was felt at ski resorts further inland.
Image c/o BBC
See here for the latest on the BBC.
Baldwin Chia was on a snowboarding holiday in Japan’s Hakuba Alps that is around 60 miles east of the epicente.
He told the Reuters news agency that his entire hotel room shook.
He said he was concerned about avalanches, but hadn’t heard reports of any taking place.
He added that it was common to hear about earthquakes in Japan, but “you wouldn’t expect to actually experience one”.
PlanetSKI reader Tom Herbst had just arrived in Japan as the quake struck.
“Not everyday you head off on a ski trip and your phone starts buzzing loudly in your pocket then the ground starts shaking beneath you seconds later,” said Tom.
“Skiing in Japan has been ‘interesting’ to say the least.
“Only 100km from the epicentre, but all safe and sound and heading to Hokkaido.”
Emma Ward, 41, has described feeling “terrified” after experiencing the earthquake on her skiing holiday in Hakuba.
She told the BBC that Monday’s quake had hit “without warning”, prompting her group to take shelter under a table in a cafe.
Glasses and cups could be heard smashing in the kitchen.
The intensity of the tremors caused people to flee the building entirely, she said.
“The worst part during the earthquake was not knowing how intense it was going to become. It’s a very frightening experience.”
She had also feared an avalanche, but nothing came of it.
This video was filmed in a Hakuba ski resort that felt the tremors as skiers were preparing to head to the slopes.
magnitude7.4 strong earthquake #地震 #earthquake #Noto #Ishikawa #Japan
Tsunami warning pic.twitter.com/KHj6QY31h6— MEER YASIR (@MEERYASIR0056) January 1, 2024
No extensive damage has been reported in Hakuba and the resorts remain open in the busy New Year period.
Hakuba is in Nagano prefecture, which borders Toyoma – one of the prefectures where tsunami warnings were initially issued.
Hakuba is a valley spread over 40km and is home to 10 resorts including Happo, Goryu, Sanosaka, Iwatake and Cortina.
During the 1998 Nagano Winter Olympics Hakuba hosted numerous events including the Men’s and Women’s Downhill, Super Giant Slalom, Combined Slalom, Ski Jumping, Cross Country and Nordic Combined.
More recently, Hakuba featured as the first Asian stop of the Freeride World Tour big mountain ski and snowboard competition.
“I was on a shuttle bus when sirens were triggered on the phones of all the passengers, including my own,” said one skier.
“The bus stopped and we felt a light bit of shaking for about a minute.
“It was just 16:20 (07:20 GMT), but it was already dark outside in this mountainous region.
“Roughly an hour and a half later, we received another similar message and the buildings shook for roughly 30 seconds.”
Andy Clark from the West Midlands was heading to the ski areas from the coast in Toyama.
“I grabbed the sea wall to stay upright,” he says. “It was a scary afternoon and evening.”
The ski area of Lotte Arai also felt the impact of the earthquake.
The 7.6-magnitude quake struck at around 16:10 local time (07:10 GMT) on Monday.
Tsunami warnings were issued and later downgraded.
About 60 tremors have been recorded following the initial quake.
“We have to race against time to search for and rescue victims of the disaster,” PM Kishida said after a disaster response meeting.
“Very extensive damage has been confirmed, including numerous casualties, building collapses and fires,” he said, adding that rescuers were finding it difficult to reach the northern tip of the Noto peninsula.
Some 33,000 households braved freezing temperatures overnight due to a lack of electricity.
Many cities are also without running water.
To make matters worse a coastguard rescue plane involved in the disaster relief operation collided with a passenger plane on the ground at Tokyo Haneda aiport
BREAKING: All of the 379 passengers and crew on board the Japan Airlines aircraft have been evacuated.
Read more: https://t.co/pD8KRVSJVe
📺 Sky 501, Virgin 602, Freeview 233 and YouTube pic.twitter.com/LrCpLIJFv4
— Sky News (@SkyNews) January 2, 2024
Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has confirmed five of the six crew on the coastguard plane died.
He extended his condolences to those who died while trying to help people in need in the Noto area of Ishikawa prefecture.
New footage shows passengers evacuating the Japan Airlines plane as it caught fire.
Live updates: https://t.co/oYQxZlqDuE
📺 Sky 501, Virgin 602, Freeview 233 and YouTube pic.twitter.com/rnLEpBEM1n
— Sky News (@SkyNews) January 2, 2024
Here at PlanetSKI we will be updating this article as the situation develops.
