Japan issues tsunami alert after magnitude 7.6 earthquake
A tsunami as high as three metres could hit Japan’s northeastern coast after an earthquake with an estimated magnitude of 7.6 occurred offshore on Monday, the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) said.
Japan issues tsunami warning
The tsunami warning and emergency evacuation orders were issued after the quake jolted a large part of Japan’s north and east at 11:15 p.m local time (1415 GMT).
Japan’s Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, in brief comment to reporters, said the government set up an emergency task force to urgently assess the extent of damage. “We are putting people’s lives first and doing everything we can,” she said.
Instructions by the Prime Minister in Response to the Earthquake off the Eastern Coast of Aomori Prefecture (23:17, Dec. 8, 2025) pic.twitter.com/pYu84jSEdo
A tsunami as high as three metres could hit Japan’s northeastern coast. (Photo: NHK)
JMA issued a tsunami warning for Aomori, Iwate and Hokkaido prefectures and a tsunami advisory for Miyagi and Fukushima prefectures.
“There is a possibility that further powerful and stronger earthquakes could occur over the next several days,” a JMA official said at a briefing.
The epicentre of the quake was 80 km off the coast of Aomori prefecture, at a depth of 50 km, the agency added.
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Magnitude of 7.6 earthquake
On Japan’s 1-7 scale of seismic intensity, the tremor registered as an “upper 6” in Aomori prefecture — a quake strong enough to make it impossible to keep standing or move without crawling.
In such tremors, most heavy furniture can collapse and wall tiles and windowpanes are damaged in many buildings.
BREAKING: CCTV captures the moment a powerful 7.2-magnitude earthquake strikes Aomori Prefecture, Japan.
Japanese television is warning people in northern Japan that there is a very serious risk of a 3-meter tsunami hitting the coast very soon. People living on the coast are being warned to evacuate their houses immediately and head to somewhere safe.pic.twitter.com/1gKfoFjOvMhttps://t.co/1oK1F1ug6x
East Japan Railway suspended some train services in the area, which was also hit by the massive 9.0-magnitude quake in March 2011.
No threat to nuclear power plants
No irregularities were reported at nuclear power plants in the region run by Tohoku Electric Power and Hokkaido Electric Power, the utilities said.
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Tohoku Electric initially said thousands of households had lost power, but later lowered that number to the hundreds.
Japan is one of the world’s most earthquake-prone countries, with a tremor occurring at least every five minutes.
Located in the “Ring of Fire” arc of volcanoes and oceanic trenches partly encircling the Pacific Basin, the country accounts for about 20% of the world’s earthquakes of magnitude 6.0 or greater.
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Japan issues tsunami alert after magnitude 7.6 earthquake 
