Japan lifts tsunami warnings after 7.5 quake injures at least 30

The quake struck offshore at 11.15pm on Monday (1415 GMT), prompting the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) to warn that tsunami waves of up to 3 metres could hit parts of the northeastern coastline. Alerts were issued for Hokkaido, Aomori and Iwate prefectures, and waves between 20 and 70 centimetres were later recorded at several ports, according to the agency.

By the early hours of Tuesday, the JMA had downgraded the alerts to tsunami advisories, before cancelling all of them later in the morning. Authorities said there were no immediate reports of large-scale structural damage.

The epicentre was located about 80 kilometres off the coast of Aomori prefecture at a depth of 54 kilometres. The tremor registered an “upper 6” on Japan’s 1–7 seismic intensity scale in the city of Hachinohe, Aomori – a level of shaking strong enough to make it extremely difficult to remain standing.

“As of now, I have received reports of 30 people being injured and one fire,” Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi told reporters.

East Japan Railway suspended some services in the affected region, which was also hit by the devastating 9.0-magnitude earthquake in March 2011. Other train operations in northern Japan experienced delays as safety checks were carried out.

In the wake of the latest tremor, the JMA issued a broader advisory covering an area stretching from Hokkaido down to Chiba prefecture, east of Tokyo, urging residents to remain alert for the possibility of another powerful quake over the coming days.

“There is a possibility that further powerful and stronger earthquakes could occur over the next several days,” a JMA official warned at a briefing.

Energy utilities reported no abnormalities at nuclear power plants run by Tohoku Electric Power and Hokkaido Electric Power in the region. Thousands of households briefly lost electricity immediately after the quake, but power was restored by Tuesday morning.

The yen slipped against major currencies following initial reports of the tremor, with both the dollar and the euro touching session highs before later steadying.

Surveillance and mobile phone footage from across northeastern Japan showed buildings swaying and interiors shaking as the quake struck late on Monday night.

Japan is among the most seismically active countries in the world, with tremors occurring frequently due to its position along the Pacific “Ring of Fire”, a belt of volcanoes and oceanic trenches that encircles much of the Pacific Basin. The country accounts for roughly 20% of global earthquakes of magnitude 6.0 or above.

The northeast of Japan was the scene of one of the nation’s worst disasters on March 11, 2011, when a 9.0-magnitude earthquake off the coast of Sendai triggered towering tsunami that obliterated coastal communities and killed nearly 20,000 people.

Informed by lessons from that tragedy, when a magnitude 7-class quake had struck two days earlier, the government now routinely issues a one-week “megaquake” advisory whenever a significant tremor hits the region, warning of a heightened risk of another major event.

The 2011 tsunami also crippled the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, causing core meltdowns and explosions in the world’s worst nuclear accident in a quarter of a century.