Whales Beached in Chiba Ahead of Tsunami Alert

Japan Forward

4 days ago

On the evening of July 29, four whales were found stranded on the Heisaura Beach in Tateyama City, Chiba Prefecture. The prefecture's civil engineering office said the cause is unknown, as is any connection to the tsunami that occurred on July 30.
Some experts have suggested that the whales may have been affected by an underlying factor, noting that similar strandings have occurred before major earthquakes in the past.
According to the Tateyama Police Station, a passerby reported the stranding around 6:30 PM on July 29. The whales, each about 7 to 8 meters (roughly 23 to 26 feet) long, were found in shallow water. Officers were sent to the scene and confirmed four whales along the shoreline.
The following morning, officials from the civil engineering office attempted to visit the site. However, they were forced to turn back due to a tsunami warning. As a result, the species and exact size of the whales have not yet been confirmed.
Yuko Tajima, principal researcher at the National Museum of Nature and Science, noted that whale strandings were also reported prior to the 2011 Christchurch earthquake and the Great East Japan Earthquake. "It's possible that an anomaly occurred in the deep sea and affected whales off the coast of Chiba," she said. "We can't rule out that possibility."
( Read the article in Japanese . )
Author: Kyodo