{"id":541214,"date":"2026-04-20T15:09:10","date_gmt":"2026-04-20T15:09:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/541214\/"},"modified":"2026-04-20T15:09:10","modified_gmt":"2026-04-20T15:09:10","slug":"japan-tsunami-warnings-downgraded-as-people-describe-low-rumbling-as-earthquake-hit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/541214\/","title":{"rendered":"Japan tsunami warnings downgraded as people describe &#8216;low rumbling&#8217; as earthquake hit"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>&#8216;It was really surreal feeling the floors and walls move&#8217;published at 13:14 BST<\/p>\n<p>13:14 BST<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-qs9kpv-Contributor etflsgg2\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/f76ce471-0f8a-44d2-81dd-d7599651fac6.jpg.webp.webp\" width=\"64\" height=\"64\" class=\"ssrcss-egie1y-Image edrdn950\"\/>Kris Bramwell<br \/>BBC News<\/p>\n<p>      <img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"David stood smiling with a man and a woman in front of a line of blossom trees\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/817fc765-acc5-46a0-beb9-c61d8ea42db5.jpg.webp.webp\"  width=\"975\" height=\"548\" class=\"ssrcss-egie1y-Image edrdn950\"\/>Image source, David Park<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">David Park from Leeds is currently on a plane travelling<br \/>\nfrom Hakodate to Tokyo on the eighth day of a trip to Japan with his friends<br \/>\nDiana and Alin from Newcastle.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">The 31-year-old says he and his friends felt today&#8217;s<br \/>\nearthquake whilst waiting in their hotel in Hakodate.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">He says while they sat in the lobby, there was<br \/>\n&#8220;suddenly a really low rumbling&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">\u201cAll of a sudden, the building started swaying and<br \/>\neveryone&#8217;s phones sounded the emergency alarm alerting to an earthquake, then<br \/>\nabout 30 seconds later, a warning for the tsunami,&#8221; he tells the BBC.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">\u201cThe shaking lasted for a good 20 to 30 seconds &#8211; it was<br \/>\nreally surreal feeling the floors and walls move and seeing the lights and<br \/>\nplants sway around.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">He says everyone gathered to watch the TV, where they saw<br \/>\nthe news alerting them of the earthquake and tsunami warnings.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">\u201cNobody seemed to panic but there was a sense of<br \/>\nunease.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">They left for the airport and David says lots of shops were<br \/>\nclosed and they got stuck in traffic.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">During the journey, he says they could hear tsunami warning<br \/>\nsirens going off. <\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"A red banner that says your voice in white writing\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/66e302d7-960a-4143-acd0-7da2f7bea40c.jpg.webp.webp\"  width=\"800\" height=\"124\" class=\"ssrcss-egie1y-Image edrdn950\"\/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"&#8216;It was really surreal feeling the floors and walls move&#8217;published at 13:14 BST 13:14 BST Kris BramwellBBC News&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":541215,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[49,50,51,47,52,48],"class_list":["post-541214","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/541214","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=541214"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/541214\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/541215"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=541214"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=541214"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=541214"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}