A magnitude 7.5 earthquake struck offshore northern Japan late Monday, injuring more than 20 people and triggering a tsunami with waves reaching up to 28 inches along Pacific coast communities.
The Japanese government continued to assess the extent of damage from both the quake and the ensuing tsunami. The tremor occurred at about 11:15 p.m. in the Pacific Ocean roughly 50 miles off the coast of Aomori, the northernmost prefecture on Japan’s main island of Honshu.
“I’ve never felt shaking this strong before,” said Nobuo Yamada, a convenience-store owner in Hachinohe, in an interview with NHK. He noted that power lines remained functional in his area, which he considered fortunate.
A tsunami measured at 2.3 feet was recorded at Kuji port in Iwate Prefecture, just south of Aomori, while other coastal towns in the region reported waves as high as 1.6 feet, according to the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA).
The Fire and Disaster Management Agency reported 23 people injured, including one in serious condition. Most injuries were due to falling objects, NHK reported; several people were hurt in a hotel in Hachinohe, and a man in the Tohoku region sustained a minor injury when his car fell into a hole.
The JMA initially listed the quake at magnitude 7.6 before revising it to 7.5. It issued warnings of potential tsunami surges up to 10 feet in some areas, later downgrading the warning to an advisory.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Minoru Kihara urged residents to move to higher ground or seek shelter until the advisories could be lifted. He noted about 800 homes were without power, and trains, including parts of the Shinkansen bullet line, were suspended in portions of the region.
Nuclear facilities in the area were conducting safety inspections. The Nuclear Regulation Authority reported that roughly 118 gallons of water spilled from a spent-fuel cooling area at the Rokkasho reprocessing plant in Aomori, but the water level remained normal and there were no safety concerns.
Around 480 residents sought shelter at Hachinohe Air Base, and 18 defense helicopters were deployed to support damage assessment, according to Defense Minister Shinjiro Koizumi.
Approximately 200 passengers were stranded overnight at New Chitose Airport in Hokkaido.
The JMA cautioned that aftershocks could occur in the coming days and warned of a slightly elevated risk of an magnitude-8 earthquake and associated tsunamis along Japan’s northeastern coast—from Chiba, east of Tokyo, to Hokkaido. Residents in 182 municipalities were advised to stay alert and review emergency preparations over the next week.
Satoshi Kato, a vice principal at a public high school in Hachinohe, described how the quake toppled glasses and bowls at his home. He headed to the school, designated as an evacuation center, only to encounter traffic jams and accidents as people panicked and attempted to flee. He noted that no one had yet arrived at the school to seek shelter.
Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi announced that the government had convened an emergency task force to quickly assess the damage and reiterated the priority of safeguarding lives. “We are putting people’s lives first and doing everything we can,” she said, and urged residents to follow the latest instructions from local authorities and be prepared to evacuate immediately if tremors recur.
The quake struck roughly 50 miles northeast of Hachinohe and about 30 miles beneath the sea surface, according to the JMA.
This event occurred just north of the coastline that endured the catastrophic magnitude-9.0 earthquake and tsunami in 2011, which claimed nearly 20,000 lives.
Reported by Yamaguchi for the Associated Press.
