Strong quake rocks Northern Japan, injures dozens, triggers Tsunami alert

Japan is counting the cost of a strong offshore earthquake that struck late Monday night, injuring at least 30 people, damaging roads and cutting power to thousands as temperatures hovered around freezing.

According to the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA), the quake, initially measured at magnitude 7.6 but later adjusted to 7.5,hit at 11:15 p.m. local time off the coast of Aomori in northern Honshu, Very Nigerian monitored

The agency warned that the jolt increases the likelihood of more powerful tremors in the coming days.

Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi confirmed that no fewer than 30 people sustained injuries, while the tremor also triggered tsunami waves as high as 70 centimetres.

Residents described the shaking as intense and prolonged. Daiki Shimohata, a civil servant in Hashikami, said he and his young family fled their home in fear.

“The tremor was like nothing we’ve ever seen. It brought back memories of 2011,” he told AFP.

Authorities reported one serious injury in Hokkaido, while images from Aomori showed collapsed sections of road and a vehicle teetering on the edge of a sinkhole.

Footage also captured panicked shoppers grabbing onto tables as goods toppled off supermarket shelves.

Although there were early reports of multiple fires, officials later confirmed only one blaze at a residential building.

By Tuesday morning, power had been restored to most of the 2,700 homes left in the dark overnight.

Nearly 28,000 residents were initially told to evacuate amid fears that tsunami waves could reach three metres.

Emergency shelters in some towns quickly filled up, but the warnings were later lifted after the waves remained below a metre.

Shinkansen bullet trains were halted as engineers examined tracks for possible damage, while operators of the Higashidori and Onagawa nuclear plants declared that no abnormalities were detected.

The JMA urged the public to stay vigilant, noting that aftershocks of similar or greater intensity could occur within the week.

Geologists Kyle Bradley and Judith A. Hubbard noted that while stronger quakes following a major tremor are rare, they are not impossible.

Japan is one of the world’s most earthquake-prone nations, sitting atop four active tectonic plates.

The country experiences about 1,500 tremors annually, most of them mild.

The latest quake revived discussion about the country’s vulnerabilities.

In March, the government warned that a potential “megaquake” in the Nankai Trough could cause nearly 300,000 deaths and economic losses of up to $2 trillion, a grim reminder of the 2011 disaster that left 18,500 people dead or missing and triggered the Fukushima nuclear meltdown.

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