Vietnamese volleyball star faces earthquake in Japan

A massive earthquake hit five prefectures of Japan: Ishikawa, Niigata, Fukui, Toyama and Gifu, on Monday, triggering tsunami warnings for regions along the western coast. At least 30 people were killed by the quake on New Year's Day, Reuters reported.

Of those, a magnitude 7.6 earthquake struck Ishikawa, where the headquarters of volleyball club PFU BlueCats is located.

Thuy and her teammates at the club were not affected too much by the earthquake. A few hours after the quake, PFU BlueCats, headquartered in Kahoku City, Ishikawa, confirmed on X (formerly Twitter) that all of their players and staff members are safe.

The Japanese government said as of Monday night it had ordered over 97,000 people in nine prefectures on the western coast to evacuate to sports halls and school gymnasiums, commonly used as evacuation centers in emergencies.

In 2021, Thuy joined PFU BlueCats in the top division volleyball league of Japan, from Vietnamese club Binh Dinh Long An.

She is Vietnam’s number one female player and the captain of the women’s national volleyball team. With a height of 1.93 meters, she is the most lethal outside hitter on the team.