TOKYO, July 31 (Xinhua) -- Japan's weather agency on Thursday afternoon lifted the last remaining tsunami advisories issued following a powerful earthquake off Russia's east coast the previous day.
The Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) had issued tsunami warnings for areas from Hokkaido in northern Japan to Wakayama Prefecture in the west after an 8.7-magnitude earthquake struck off Russia's Kamchatka Peninsula on Wednesday morning, but they were downgraded to advisories on Wednesday night.
The highest tsunami observed in Japan was a 1.3-meter-high wave at a port in Kuji, Iwate Prefecture on Wednesday afternoon, according to the agency.
On Thursday morning, the JMA partially lifted the advisory for coastal areas between Tokyo Bay and Okinawa Prefecture in the south, except for some locations in the northern main island of Hokkaido and northeastern Japan.
Some areas recorded their highest waves on Thursday, with waves of 70 centimeters reaching the town of Hiroo, Hokkaido, at 1:18 a.m. local time, and the town of Oarai, Ibaraki Prefecture, at 2:27 a.m. local time.
At a news conference Thursday, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi said that after the tsunami warnings were issued, a 58-year-old woman died in Mie Prefecture when the car she was in fell from a cliff-side road, believing she was trying to get to a safe zone. ■