ANCHORAGE, Alaska -- Cleanup workers will on Friday attack a jumble of debris from Japan's 2011 tsunami that litters an Alaskan island, as residents in the state gear up to scour their shores for everything from buoys to building material that has floated across the Pacific.

The cleansing project slated to start on Montague Island is expected to last a couple weeks, and organizers say it marks the first major project in Alaska to collect and dispose of debris from the tsunami.

The March 2011 tsunami, caused by a magnitude 9.0 earthquake, killed nearly 16,000 people and left over 3,000 missing on Japan's main island of Honshu, and precipitated a major radiation release at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant.

Slideshow: Then-and-now: Tsunami cleanup

AP

View side-by-side the progress that Japan has made since the tsunami and earthquake in March 2011.

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A U.S. senator has sought to obtain $45 million to tackle the problem, and officials have cited fears about invasive species and toxic substances thought to be among the floating mess of objects.

Harley-Davidson washes up on Canadian coast

While debris from Japan is also floating toward other U.S. states along the West Coast, Alaska has a more extensive shoreline, much of it difficult to reach.

'Just a start'
Montague is an uninhabited island at the entrance to Prince William Sound, southeast of Anchorage. About a dozen volunteers and employees from the environmental group Gulf of Alaska Keeper and the Center for Alaskan Coastal Studies will handle the debris-removal project at the island.

"We'll probably remove 30 to 40 tons from there. That's just a start," said Patrick Chandler, special programs coordinator for the Center for Alaskan Coastal Studies.

Japan has estimated 5 million tons of debris was swept out to sea, but that most of it sank, leaving 1.5 million tons floating. Still, those figures are rough estimates, said the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Observers flying over the Alaska coast have spotted, among other items, huge numbers of barrel-sized polystyrene foam buoys, often associated with Japanese oyster farms.

Tiny specks of polystyrene foam that break away from larger objects can be dangerous to seabirds or marine mammals, because they resemble eggs or other food morsels, Chandler said.

Japanese teen traced as owner of soccer ball found in Alaska

Another worry is that floating debris might carry invasive species, such as barnacles, that would wreak havoc in waters off Alaska and the U.S. West Coast, said Doug Helton, the Seattle-based coordinator of NOAA's office of response and restoration.

Then there is the danger from noxious substances in partly full fuel jugs, cleanup organizers said.

Last month, the U.S. Coast Guard sank a 164-foot fishing boat from the Japan tsunami that drifted near Alaska. The Coast Guard said the so-called "ghost ship" was a navigational hazard.

With more debris headed for the West Coast, questions about cleanup costs remain unanswered. Those expenses could be high in Alaska because of geographic and weather challenges.

U.S. Senator Mark Begich of Alaska suggested last week that NOAA provide $45 million as an initial outlay to fund what is expected to be a sustained and difficult beach cleanup.

Meanwhile, David Baxter, a technician who works at a Federal Aviation Administration station on the uninhabited Middleton Island in the Gulf of Alaska, has made some notable finds on his rounds in his hobby of beachcombing.

Slideshow: Triple tragedy for Japan

An earthquake, a tsunami, a nuclear meltdown -- residents of Japan's northeast coast suffered through three intertwined disasters after a massive 9.0 magnitude temblor struck off the coast on March 11, 2011.

Launch slideshow

Earlier this month, the owner of a tsunami-wrecked restaurant in the coastal Miyagi Prefecture spotted one of her buoys among Baxter's debris photos posted online. The yellow buoy was part of the restaurant's sign, he said.

Baxter has arranged to send it back to the woman. "Now that her buoy's found, she's going to rebuild," he said.

On Wednesday, the World Health Organization said increases in radiation linked to the Fukushima disaster were below cancer-causing levels in nearly all of Japan.

The agency's 124-page report also says neighboring countries had levels similar to normal background radiation and for the rest of the world there was some minor exposure through food.

The U.N.'s International Atomic Energy Agency had previously confirmed that radiation levels in some Japanese milk and vegetables reached significantly higher levels than Japan allows for consumption.

Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Slideshow: Triple tragedy for Japan

Kuni Takahashi

Residents of Japan's northeast coast have suffered through three separate but intertwined disasters since a massive 9.0 magnitude earthquake struck off the coast on March 11.

Launch slideshow

The data comes as a family prepares to file the first lawsuit against the Tokyo Electric Power Co. over the suicide of Hamako Watanabe, a 58-year-old woman who set herself on fire in wake of the disaster.

In 2011, 55 people committed suicide, with another six cases reported since the beginning of 2012. Suicides linked to the Fukushima nuclear accident are included in the numbers, but attribution to the nuclear crisis has been omitted due to privacy concerns. The data was collected using local police reports since last June.

“We are collecting this information and making it available within the boundary of the victims' privacy to help their work and research," said Ryoko Hagiwara, of the Cabinet Office’s suicide prevention task force. "Unless we understand the actual situation, we cannot come up with any countermeasures." 

The victims' age, gender and occupation vary. The causes for the suicides include financial, health and family-related troubles. 

Watanabe’s family will seek $910,000 in damages in the death of Hamako Watanabe from TEPCO, the operator of the Fukushima nuclear plant, according to The Japan Times and The Mainichi. They plan to file the lawsuit – which would be the first over a suicide linked to the nuclear crisis – on May 18 in Fukushima District Court.

Family to sue over suicide after Japan tsunami, nuke meltdown

Her husband, Mikio Watanabe, 61, said his wife suffered depression in the aftermath of the March 11 disaster.

The couple lived about 25 miles from the Fukushima power plant and their home had been designated as being within a planned evacuation zone. She killed herself at a garbage incinerator after going back to clean the house in Kawamata, The Japan Times reported.  

The couple had moved around after the 9.0 quake and ensuing tsunamis struck, triggering meltdowns at the Fukushima Dai-ichi plant and leaving nearly 16,000 dead.

As of last Saturday, Japan had shut down the last of its 50 usable nuclear reactors amid strong opposition from the public and local governments to keeping them up and running, The Associated Press reported.

Hamako Watanabe had been a poultry worker until her workplace was shuttered after the tsunami, and she began to show signs of insomnia and had a poor appetite.

A group of lawyers representing victims of the nuclear crisis said her depression and suicide were due to the nuclear disaster, The Mainichi reported.

'Can it be the end of nuclear power?' Japan to shut down last reactor

Tepco declined to make comment to the newspapers, though the family notified the utility on April 20 of its intention to file the lawsuit. Tepco said in a letter dated May 1 that it would consider the matter.

The government earmarked $46 million after the quake and tsunami for local governments to spend on suicide prevention efforts.

Slideshow: Triple tragedy for Japan

Kuni Takahashi / Kuni Takahashi

An earthquake, a tsunami, a nuclear meltdown -- residents of Japan's northeast coast suffered through three intertwined disasters after a massive 9.0 magnitude temblor struck off the coast on March 11, 2011.

Launch slideshow

The family of a 58-year-old Japanese woman who set herself on fire after the 2011 quake and tsunami will file a lawsuit against the operator of a nuclear plant that went into meltdown after the giant wave hit, local media reports say.

They will seek $910,000 in damages in the death of Hamako Watanabe from the Tokyo Electric Power Co., according to The Japan Times and The Mainichi. They plan to file the lawsuit -- which would be the first over a suicide linked to the nuclear crisis -- on May 18 in Fukushima District Court.

Her husband, Mikio Watanabe, 61, said his wife suffered depression in the aftermath of the accident on March 11, 2011.

The couple lived about 25 miles from the Fukushima power plant and their home had been designated as being within a planned evacuation zone. She killed herself at a garbage incinerator after going back to clean the house in Kawamata, The Japan Times said, citing sources. 

"The accident changed everything in our lives,” Watanabe told The Mainichi. “I decided to go to court because I thought no more victims should cry themselves to sleep."

The couple had moved around after the 9.0 quake and ensuing tsunamis struck, triggering meltdowns at the Fukushima Dai-ichi plant and leaving nearly 16,000 dead.

Slideshow: Devastation in Japan after quake

AP

A 9.0-magnitude earthquake triggers a tsunami, causing enormous damage and killing thousands.

Launch slideshow

As of last Saturday, Japan had shut down the last of its 50 usable nuclear reactors amid strong opposition from the public and local governments to keeping them up and running, The Associated Press reported.

Tsunami town's fishermen vow to 'bring joy back'

Hamako Watanabe's workplace was shuttered after the tsunami, and she began to show signs of insomnia and had a poor appetite. A group of lawyers representing victims of the nuclear crisis said her depression and suicide were due to the nuclear disaster, The Mainichi reported.

'Can it be the end of nuclear power?' Japan to shut down last reactor

Tepco declined to make comment to the newspapers, though the family notified the utility on April 20 of its intention to file the lawsuit. Tepco said in a letter dated May 1 that it would consider the matter.

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TOKYO -- Japan shuts down its last working nuclear power reactor this weekend just over a year after a tsunami scarred the nation and if it survives the summer without major electricity shortages, producers fear the plants will stay offline for good. 

The shutdown leaves Japan without nuclear power for the first time since 1970 and has put electricity producers on the defensive. Public opposition to nuclear power could become more deeply entrenched if non-nuclear generation proves enough to meet Japan's needs in the peak-demand summer months.

"Can it be the end of nuclear power? It could be," said Andrew DeWit, a professor at Rikkyo University in Tokyo who studies energy policy. "That's one reason why people are fighting it to the death."

Slideshow: Then-and-now: Tsunami cleanup

AP

View side-by-side the progress that Japan has made since the tsunami and earthquake in March 2011.

Launch slideshow

Japan managed to get through the summer last year without any blackouts by imposing curbs on use in the immediate aftermath of the earthquake and tsunami. Factories operated at night and during weekends to avoid putting too much stress on the country's power grids. A similar success this year would weaken the argument of proponents of nuclear power. 

"They don't have the polls on their side," said DeWit. "Once they go through the summer without reactors, how will they fire them up? They know that, so they will try their darndest but I don't see how."

Rock Center: One year after Fukushima disaster, town remains frozen in time

The last one running, the No3 Tomari reactor of Hokkaido Electric Power Co in northern Japan, is scheduled to shut down early on Sunday. Anti-nuclear activists will celebrate with demonstrations over the weekend.

'Mass suicide'?
The last time Japan went without nuclear power was in May 1970, when the country's only two reactors operating at that time were shut for maintenance, the Federation of Electric Power Companies of Japan says.

Nuclear power provided almost 30 percent of the electricity to keep the $5 trillion economy going before the March 11, 2011 disaster that killed almost 16,000 people and left more than 3,000 missing.

A year on, the level of public concern about the safety of the industry is such that the government is still struggling to come up with a long-term energy policy, a delay having a profound impact on the economy and underlining just how costly it will be to contemplate a nuclear-power-free future. 

Having boomed in recent decades on the exports prowess of big brands like Sony, Toyota and Canon, the economy suffered its first trade deficit in more than three decades in 2011 as power producers spent billions of dollars on oil-and-gas imports to fuel extra generation capacity.

Water leaks found at Japan's stricken Fukushima nuclear plant

At the time of the Fukushima crisis, then Prime Minister Naoto Kan called on Japan to wean itself off of nuclear power. Up to that point, Japan had been planning to lift the share of nuclear generation to over 50 percent by 2030 from about 30 percent. 

The government of current Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda has softened Kan's call. Noda says Japan cannot afford to be nuclear free, although he still holds that as an ideal. 

But the government has no clear timetable for getting nuclear power back up and running as it tries to navigate the public opposition -- rare in Japan -- and the demands of business that wants a stable supply of power. 

Cabinet ministers last month rushed to try to win over the public to allow the restart of two nuclear power reactors at Kansai Electric Power Co's Ohi plant in western Japan, in what experts said was a recognition of the implications of a nuclear-free summer. 

The public remained unconvinced. A poll by Kyodo news agency last weekend showed about 60 percent of the public opposed to restarting the two reactors. 

Most mayors and governors whose communities host nuclear plants want safety assurances beyond government-imposed stress tests before agreeing to restarts, a Reuters poll showed in March. 

Slideshow: Triple tragedy for Japan

Kuni Takahashi / Kuni Takahashi

An earthquake, a tsunami, a nuclear meltdown -- residents of Japan's northeast coast suffered through three intertwined disasters after a massive 9.0 magnitude temblor struck off the coast on March 11, 2001.

Launch slideshow

To overcome the opposition, some politicians have been more forceful. Yo@!$%#o Sengoku, the acting president of the ruling Democratic Party of Japan, on April 16 called an abandonment of nuclear energy the equivalent of "mass suicide," Kyodo news reported. His comment was criticized by Chief Cabinet Secretary Osamu Fujimura, indicating internal divisions over how to handle the issue.

Trade Minister Yukio Edano - the government's point man for energy policy - walks a fine line, saying both that safety must come first while trying to win the support of local communities for restarts.

Kansai Electric Power Co, the utility most reliant on nuclear power, and some other electricity producers have warned of power shortages this summer but have largely avoided lobbying publicly for restarts for fear of a backlash.

Global shift on nuke power 
Ultimately, some argue Japan's economy, already weakened by years of deflation, would suffer if reactors are not restarted.

"It's not an option Japan should take. There will be less employment and the economy will be on a shrinking trend," said Takeo Kikkawa, a professor at Hitotsubashi University.

Japan's liquefied natural gas imports climbed 18 percent in volume and 52 percent in value to 5.4 trillion yen ($67 billion) in the year through March. 

Renewable energy, although given emphasis in energy policies being formulated, is not expected to be much of an immediate salve. Energy from renewable sources account for about 10 percent of Japan's power generation, most of that from hydroelectric dams. Wind and solar together contribute about 1 percent. 

Worldwide, there has been a shift with Germany, Italy and Switzerland moving away from atomic energy, prompting the International Atomic Energy Agency to revise down its forecast for growth in the industry.

Greenpeace 'bombs' French nuclear reactor -- could it happen in US?

The United States, China and India are still planning to increase the number of reactors.

In Japan, a delay in setting up a new, more independent Nuclear Regulatory Agency due to deadlock in a divided parliament is further clouding the outlook.

Some analysts say the government is not going to turn public opinion unless it admits that nuclear power is never going to be absolutely safe.

"The debate needs to be recast," said Bob Geller, a professor of geophysics at Tokyo University. "They have to come clean, and say, in effect - look we know they're not perfectly safe but we've made a careful evaluation of the risks, which we'll make public." 

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Peter Mark / Kyodo News via AP

Ikuo Yokoyama's Harley-Davidson lies on a beach in Graham Island, western Canada. The rusted bike was originally found in a large white container that was later washed away, leaving the bike half-buried in the sand.

A Japanese man who reportedly lost his home and three family members in last year’s tsunami says it’s a miracle that a prized item swept out to sea – his Harley-Davidson motorcycle – has turned up more than 4,000 miles away on the shores of western Canada.

Ikuo Yokoyama’s motorcycle was inside a large white cube container, like the back part of a moving truck, that washed up on British Columbia’s Haida Gwaii islands, CBC News reported.

Peter Mark was riding his ATV, exploring a beach on one of the islands, when he came upon the find on April 18.

"You just never know what you're going to stumble upon when you go for a drive, and lo and behold you just come across something that's out of this world," he said in an interview with CBC, which published stories this week on the find.

Mark told CBC he could see a motorcycle tire sticking out of the container. On closer inspection, he saw that it was a rusted Harley-Davidson with Japanese license plates. Six golf clubs were pinned beneath the bike.

The plates showed the motorcycle was registered in Miyagai prefecture, the area hit worst by the destructive March 11, 2011, earthquake and tsunami.

“I gotta say, the first thing that popped into my mind when I was looking at the scene [was] I really wonder what happened to this person. I really hope this person is OK," Mark told CBC. "It's quite a shock to actually see it and to actually walk into it. … [It's] quite an eerie feeling, knowing what happened to Japan and to those people. It kind of hits home quite a bit."

The Japanese consulate in Vancouver, British Columbia, took down the license number.

A Harley Davidson representative in Japan tracked the bike’s identifying information to Yokoyama, a 29-year-old resident of Yamamoto in Miyagi prefecture, CBC reported, citing Japanese media reports.

Yokoyama told Japanese broadcaster NHK that the discovery of the motorcycle was miraculous.

“I’m very thankful that it came back,” he told NHK, The Province newspaper in British Columbia reported. “I would like to thank the man who found my bike in person, but because it’s hard to do that, I’d like to thank him here right now.”

Yokoyama told Japanese media he had been using the white container as his garage. It was in his backyard when the earthquake and tsunami struck, destroying his house and killing three family members, according to The Province.

Watch World News videos on msnbc.com

Mark told CBC he left the motorcycle where he found it, partly because the beach where it washed up is remote and hard to get to.

Objects and debris from last year’s tsunami, carried by ocean currents, have been washing up with increasing frequency on the west coast of Canada and the United States.

Recent discoveries include a soccer ball and a volleyball that were swept away in Iwate prefecture and washed ashore on Alaska’s Middleton Island. The items were returned to their Japanese owners.

The Maritime Museum of BC last week launched the Tsunami Debris Project, an online effort to collect photos of flotsam that has washed ashore, with the hope that some items can be reunited with their owners.

The magnitude-9 earthquake and tsunami killed more than 15,000 people and crippled several nuclear plants. Tons of debris were swept into the Pacific Ocean.

“The idea is to not only document, but to showcase them in an exhibit-type of way, and to tell the social and human side of the story with the idea that there might be a few items that come over that have some personal or sentimental value for these people that have lost everything,” project coordinator Linda Funk told ABCNews.com. 

The Maritime Museum says the bulk of the debris isn’t expected to hit the shores of the U.S. and Canada until 2013-14.

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Noaa - Jiji Press / AFP - Getty Images

This soccer ball is believed to have drifted from Rikuzentakata, Japan, to Alaska following the March 2011 tsunami.

A Japanese teenager has identified himself as the owner of a soccer ball that washed up on an Alaska beach last week – the first traceable debris to arrive in the United States from last year's tsunami.

Misaki Murakami, who comes from the city of Rikuzentakata, where more than 3,000 homes were destroyed, came forward on Sunday after reading news reports about the find.

Marker pen writing on the soccer ball identified the 16-year-old and the name of his school.

The soccer ball and a volleyball were discovered by David Baxter, a technician working at a radar station on remote Middleton Island in the Gulf of Alaska, Doug Helton of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration wrote ina  blog post last week.

Japan’s Kyodo news agency said Murakami was at home at the time of the tsunami disaster in March 2011 but managed to escape the waves by running to higher ground with his pet dog.

Kyodo via Reuters

Misaki Murakami, 16, says he is the owner of a soccer ball that was found on the shore of a remote Alaska island.

His family lost everything, including their home, and are currently living in temporary housing provided by the local government.

Ghost ship sinks to bottom of Gulf of Alaska 

Murakami told the news agency Sunday that he had been searching for his family's belongings but that until the ball was found he had had no luck.

Prized possession
The ball was a gift from his former homeroom teacher and his 13 classmates when he had to change schools in the same area seven years ago.

He said it was a prized possession, which he always kept hanging in a net next to his bed.

Kyodo News via AP

David and Yumi Baxter hold the soccer ball and a volleyball at their home in Alaska.
Doug Helton of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said that there wasn't enough information on the volleyball for Japanese officials to locate its possible owner.

Murakami spoke with Baxter on the phone to thank him for finding his treasured ball.

The magnitude 9.0 earthquake off Japan's northeast coast on March 11, 2011, triggered a 75-foot wall of water that flattened waterfront towns, killing 16,000. About 3,000 people are still unaccounted for. The tsunami triggered a crisis at Tokyo Electric Power's Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, forcing tens of thousands of people to flee in the world's worst nuclear accident in 25 years.

Slideshow: Triple tragedy for Japan

An earthquake, a tsunami, a nuclear meltdown -- residents of Japan's northeast coast suffered through three intertwined disasters after a massive 9.0 magnitude temblor struck off the coast on March 11, 2011.

Launch slideshow

U.S. authorities were immediately aware that the clockwise circulation of the Pacific's northern waters would deliver some remnants of that destruction to American shores.

A Japanese ghost ship, Ryou-Un Maru, turned up earlier in the Gulf of Alaska off Southeast Alaska after a 4,500-mile journey. The U.S. Coast Guard sank the vessel April 5.

In January, a half-dozen large buoys suspected to be from Japanese oyster farms appeared at the top of Alaska's panhandle and may be among the first tsunami debris.

State health and environmental officials have said there's little need to be worried that debris landing on Alaska's shores will be contaminated by radiation.

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David Baxter via NOAA

This soccer ball with Japanese writing came from a school in a tsunami-stricken area of Japan.

A volleyball and soccer ball that washed ashore on an Alaskan island may be the first pieces of debris to arrive in the United States from last year's tsunami in Japan.

The sports balls were spotted by radar technician David Baxter on treeless, windswept Middleton Island in the Gulf of Alaska, Doug Helton of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in Seattle said in an agency blog post.

Baxter’s wife translated writing on the soccer ball and traced it back to a Japanese school in an area hit by the tsunami, Helton said.

"There have been other items that were suspected, but this is the first one that we're aware of that has the credentials that may make it possible to positively identify it."

Helton, in the NOAA post, said the agency, the State Department and the Japanese Embassy and its Seattle consulate are working to confirm details and set up the return of other debris that comes ashore.

A magnitude 9.0 earthquake off Japan's northeast coast on March 11, 2011, triggered a 75-foot wall of water that flattened waterfront towns, killing 16,000. Three thousand people are still unaccounted for. The tsunami triggered a crisis at Tokyo Electric Power's Fukushima Daiichi atomic power plant, forcing tens of thousands of people to flee in the world's worst nuclear accident in 25 years.

U.S. authorities were immediately aware that the clockwise circulation of the Pacific's northern waters would deliver some remnants of that destruction to American shores.

A Japanese ghost ship Ryou-Un Maru turned up earlier in the Gulf of Alaska off Southeast Alaska after a 4,500-mile journey. The U.S. Coast Guard ended sank the vessel April 5.

In January, a half-dozen large buoys suspected to be from Japanese oyster farms appeared at the top of Alaska's panhandle and may be among the first tsunami debris.

State health and environmental officials have said there's little need to be worried that debris landing on Alaska shores will be contaminated by radiation.

This article contains reporting by Reuters and The Associated Press.

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 Updated at 9:22 a.m. ET: A 8.6-magnitude earthquake and powerful aftershocks struck off Indonesia on Wednesday, sending people scurrying from shaking buildings in several countries and raising fears of a disastrous tsunami.

Tsunami alerts were issued across the entire Indian Ocean, although they were later lifted.

The U.S. Geological Survey said that the initial quake happened about 14 miles beneath the ocean floor and 270 miles from Banda Aceh, the provincial capital of Aceh, at 2:38 p.m. local time (4:38 a.m. ET).

Reuters reported that the tremors were felt in Thailand, Singapore and southern India.

The quake struck in a similar location to the 9.1-magnitude tremor on Dec. 26, 2004, that triggered a tsunami in the Indian Ocean, killing almost 230,000 people.

An 8.2-magnitude aftershock hit at 6:43 a.m. ET, the USGS said. Fresh tsunami alerts were issued as a result. Several other smaller temblors, of between 5.1 and 5.7-magnitude, were recorded in the same area between 5:51 a.m. ET and 8:10 a.m. ET.

For real-time alerts and updates, see BreakingNews.com

'The threat has diminished'
Individual countries, including Kenya, issued tsunami warnings for their Indian Ocean coastlines.

The Hawaii-based Pacific Tsunami Warning Center issued a tsunami watch -- an alert category one level below a warning -- for the entire Indian Ocean area but later canceled it.

"Level readings now indicate that the threat has diminished or is over for most areas,'' it said.  

It posted a series of estimated arrival times for tsunami waves for potentially affected areas, saying that if no major waves had happened two hours after those times then “local authorities can assume the threat is passed.”

“As local conditions can cause a wide variation in tsunami wave action, the all-clear determination must be made by local authorities,” the warning center said.

Small tsunami waves of around three feet in height hit the western coast of Sumatra island, Reuters reported, though Indonesia’s disaster agency said it was still assessing whether there were any deaths or damage.

'Remain alert'
Indonesia's Geophysics Agency also said it had detected a rise in sea level of up to 2 feet 7 inches, according to Reuters.Tsunami waves are relatively small in the open ocean, but can quickly build up as they near shore or are channeled into inlets.

National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho told The Jakarta Post that the large aftershock "might potentially trigger a tsunami. Residents must remain alert."

A witness on Indonesia's Simeulue Island, near the epicenter of the quake, said the sea had receded by about 10 yards; water receding is a sign that a tsunami wave is about to arrive.

NBC News reported scenes of panic in Indonesia, with residents and even hospital patients fleeing buildings.

PhotoBlog: Scenes of panic in Banda Aceh

"The quake was felt very strongly. Electricity is down, there's traffic jams to access higher ground. Sirens and Quran recitals from mosques are everywhere," a spokesman for Indonesia's disaster mitigation agency told Reuters.

In Banda Aceh, Fauvan, who like many people in the region has a single name, told NBC News that when the quake struck "the buildings shook for three to four minutes --  it was very scary."

"I immediately left the building and ran towards higher ground. A lot of people did the same. There were a lot of people in the street," she said.

She said she had now returned to the hotel. "It is quite good here now" she said, sensing the worst of the quake and tsunami warning had passed.

Indonesia's disaster mitigation agency is sending a rescue team to Aceh province, and said electricity had been cut to the area.

Thousands evacuated
Several thousand people were evacuated to higher ground from parts of India's Andaman and Nicobar islands as authorities prepared for waves of up to 12 feet or more.

India earlier issued a tsunami alert for its eastern coast, saying waves measuring almost 20 feet high might strike parts of its eastern coast. Hundreds of office workers in the Indian city of Bangalore left their buildings.

Chaideer Mahyuddin / AFP - Getty Images

Acehnese women hug each other and pray shortly after a powerful earthquake hit the western coast of Sumatra, Indonesia.

Reports on Twitter and elsewhere said Wednesday's first quake was also felt in Singapore, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Malaysia. High-rise apartments and offices on Malaysia's west coast shook for at least a minute.

Evacuation orders were issued for Thailand's southern island of Phuket and another southern province, Phangnga. "The province has turned on the warning sirens and asked people all over Phuket island to move to a safe place," an official from the Phuket Disaster Prevention and Mitigation Center told Reuters by telephone.

The country's National Disaster Prevention Center told NBC News that Phuket airport has been temporarily closed and flights diverted elsewhere.

Previous Top 10 deadliest earthquakes in history

Nadine Hills, a British honeymooner on vacation near Ao Nang, Thailand, told msnbc.com that hotel guests had been evacuated to a local school. "There's a lot of people here and a massive storm flashing and rumbling over head. The police just arrived with water and to tell us we're safe for now. Just going to have to sit tight and see."

Simon Boxall, a U.K. oceanographer, told Sky News that the danger would not necessarily be over if the first quake did not produce a tsunami.

"The initial earthquake may not cause a tsunami … [but] there's no reason why an aftershock, which could still reach up to 8 in magnitude, cannot still cause a tsunami," he added, speaking before the first aftershock hit.

Boxall told Sky that not all offshore quakes produced tsunamis and issuing evacuation orders every time there was one could start to "get very messy."

NBC News reported that quake has been rated as a '5' on the USGS MMI scale, which measures the physical intensity of an earthquake as felt on the ground. A strength 5 quake is defined as: "Felt inside by most, may not be felt by some outside in non-favorable conditions. Dishes and windows may break and large bells will ring. Vibrations like large train passing close to house."

British Prime Minister David Cameron, who is on a pre-arranged official visit to the Indonesian capital, Jakarta, announced that Britain "stands ready to help if required."

Area prone to volcanic and seismic activity
Indonesia straddles a series of fault lines that makes the vast island nation prone to volcanic and seismic activity.

According to the USGS, the 2004 quake struck about 155 south-southeast of Banda Aceh at a depth of 18.6 miles. Some 227,898 people were killed or missing presumed dead and about 1.7 million were forced out of their homes after the  tsunami affected 14 countries in Asia and East Africa.

Indonesia's explosive geology explained

"This is the third largest earthquake in the world since 1900 and is the largest since the 1964 Prince William Sound, Alaska earthquake," the USGS said in its summary about the 2004 earthquake.

"The tsunami caused more casualties than any other in recorded history and was recorded nearly world-wide on tide gauges in the Indian, Pacific and Atlantic Oceans," it added.

The most severe earthquake since 1900 was of 9.5 magnitude and struck Santiago and Concepcion in Chile on May 22, 1960, triggering tidal waves and volcanic eruptions. Some 5,000 people were killed and two million made homeless.

Reuters contributed to this report.

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TOKYO – On Thursday, the U.S. Coast Guard sank a wayward Japanese fishing vessel off the coast of Alaska that had floated across the Pacific after being ripped from its moorings by the huge tsunami that struck on March 11 last year.

But could more Japanese flotsam and jetsam reach U.S. shores?

Since last year, the Japanese government has been tracking and posting on a website detailed information of debris sightings collected from ships in the Pacific Ocean.

Reports of capsized boats peaked in July with 17 cases, dwindling to two found in November. There were no sightings for the months of December and January.

'Ghost ship' sinks to bottom of Gulf of Alaska after Coast Guard fires at it

According to the calculations by Japan's Cabinet Secretariat for Ocean Policy, as much as 5 million tons of debris, mostly damaged homes, were sucked into the sea by the tsunami. It is calculated that up to 70 percent of the material was concrete, which quickly sunk to the bottom of the ocean. But the remaining 30 percent may still be floating in the Pacific.

"Even though most nations have expressed their understanding that the debris was caused by an uncontrollable natural disaster, it nonetheless came from our country and we will do our utmost to fulfill our responsibilities" said Tetsuyuki Tamura, an official at the Ocean Policy department, adding that the most important task will be the sharing of information, particularly with the United States and Canada.

As for the effects of the meltdown at the Fukushima nuclear complex, the Japanese government said the risk of radiation in the ocean is low, citing the fact that most of the wreckage was pulled into the sea 24 hours before the troubles at the plant. As for any subsequent radiation particles washed into the sea, it would have been very little in relation to the huge amounts of water in the ocean.

Handout / Reuters

Japanese fishing vessel, "Ryou-Un Maru," shows significant signs of damage after U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Anancapa fired explosive ammunition into it, 180 miles west of the Southeast Alaskan coast on Thursday.

More photos of the 'ghost ship'

In February of this year, Japanese experts were dispatched to Hawaii to meet with their counterparts at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration for further exchange of information.

As a result, sometime this month, Japan is expected to post a computer simulation of the debris traveling across the Pacific to help gauge its route and the speed. 
 

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Updated at 10:30 a.m. ET: A fishing vessel set adrift by the tsunami in Japan has sunk in the Gulf of Alaska after a cutter fired at it, The Coast Guard said.

Petty Officer David Moseley told msnbc.com that the vessel caught fire and took on water after the Coast Guard Cutter Anacapa fired its 25mm cannon at the derelict ship on Thursday, aiming to sink what it called a threat to shipping.

The ship sank to the bottom of the ocean after it was pummeled at by high-explosive ammunition, the Vancouver Sun reported Friday morning. Explosives were fired at the stricken vessel in a "slow and deliberate" manner to ensure accuracy, Veronica Colbath, Coast Guard public affairs officer, said, The Sun reported.

It took about four hours for the ship to vanish into the water, said Chief Petty Officer Kip Wadlow in Juneau. It sank into waters more than 6,000 feet deep, about 180 miles west of the southeast Alaska coast, the Coast Guard said.

Citing a Coast Guard spokesman, the Associated Press reported the firing began after a brief delay caused by a Canadian ship that wanted to salvage the Ryou-un Maru -- but then quickly found it it wasn't able to tow it back to shore.

Besides clearing a shipping lane, sinking the nearly 200-foot-long vessel provides the Anacapa crew "a great way for them to put their skills to use," Coast Guard spokesman Kip Wadlow told msnbc.com from Juneau, Alaska.

Wadlow said the drifting vessel makes shipping in the area extremely dangerous. "There's no crew on board, it doesn't have any light ...  and it's in a high volume shipping lane," he noted.

The fishing boat, which was in port waiting to be scrapped when the tsunami took it out to sea, is far enough away that any fuel on board would not make it to shore, Wadlow added. The Coast Guard later elaborated that it appeared to be carrying little fuel since it was riding high in the water, the AP reported.

A Coast Guard C-130 was flying over the area to warn away any nearby ships for what is described as a "live fire exercise."

More photos of the Ryou-un Maru sinking

Dropping crews aboard the boat is too dangerous, Wadlow said, and "the owner no longer wants it."

But that didn't stop the Bernice C from trying to make some money off the rusty vessel.

Based in Petersburg, Alaska, the Anacapa arrived Wednesday night alongside the Ryou-un Maru, which entered U.S. waters on April 1. The ship was moored at a harbor in Hachinohe, Japan, when the earthquake and tsunami hit on March 11, 2011.

The vessel is the first large object to reach North America following the tsunami. Smaller objects have been found on U.S. coasts but much more debris is expected to make its way via currents to U.S. and Canadian beaches by 2014.

State officials have been working with federal counterparts to gauge the danger of debris including material affected by a damaged nuclear power plant, to see if Alaska residents, seafood or wild game could be affected.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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