Japan lifted a tsunami warning on Friday after a magnitude 6.7 earthquake struck off the northern coast, officials said. The quake occurred 130 kilometers off Kuji in Iwate prefecture on Honshu, Japan’s main island, according to the United States Geological Survey (USGS).
The Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) initially warned that tsunami waves of up to one metre could hit the northern Pacific coastline. In practice, the highest waves recorded reached only 20 centimetres in Hokkaido and the Aomori region before the advisory was lifted. Broadcaster NHK reported no major changes or damage at ports affected by the waves.
Friday’s quake followed an even stronger 7.5-magnitude tremor late Monday, which caused more severe shaking, damaging roads, windows, and infrastructure, and triggered tsunami waves up to 70 centimetres. After Monday’s quake, residents near a 70-meter-high steel tower in Aomori were evacuated due to fears of collapse.
The Nuclear Regulation Authority confirmed that there were no immediate problems at the region’s nuclear facilities following Friday’s quake. While the shaking from this quake was milder than Monday’s, the region remains on alert due to its seismic history and ongoing monitoring by the JMA.
The Sanriku area in northeastern Honshu and northern Hokkaido is still considered at risk for strong tremors. The region was severely affected by a 9.0-magnitude undersea quake in 2011, which caused a tsunami that killed around 18,500 people. Japan’s location atop four major tectonic plates along the Pacific “Ring of Fire” makes it one of the world’s most seismically active countries, with around 1,500 earthquakes annually, most of them minor.
In August 2024, the JMA issued a special advisory for the southern Pacific coast warning of potential “megaquakes” along the Nankai Trough, where the Philippine Sea plate subducts beneath the continental plate. Officials estimate that a major Nankai Trough quake and tsunami could kill up to 298,000 people and cause damages up to $2 trillion. The recent quakes have prompted heightened vigilance, although the immediate effects of Friday’s 6.7-magnitude tremor were limited.