20/04/2026 – 11:35 GMT+2
Authorities have urged residents of the affected areas to seek higher ground, heed safety instructions and exercise caution.
A 7.4 magnitude earthquake struck northern Japan on Monday, Japan’s Meteorological Agency (JMA) said, issuing a tsunami warning for waves up to three metres.
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The quake hit at 4:53 pm local time in the Pacific Ocean off northern Iwate Prefecture. Eyewitnesses say the tremor was strong enough to shake large buildings as far as Tokyo, hundreds of kilometres away.
The earliest tsunami waves could reach the northern shoreline immediately, the weather agency said.
“Evacuate immediately from coastal regions and riverside areas to a safer place such as high ground or an evacuation building,” it added.
“Tsunami waves are expected to hit repeatedly. Do not leave safe ground until the warning is lifted,” it said, warning that damage due to tsunami waves was expected.
Footage from national broadcaster NHK did not show any immediate visible damage around several ports in Iwate. Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s office said it had established a crisis management team to respond to the situation.
“For those of you who live in areas for which the warnings have been issued, please evacuate to higher, safer places such as higher ground,” Takaichi told reporters, adding that the government was still assessing whether there were any casualties or property damage.
Japan is one of the world’s most seismically active countries, sitting atop four major tectonic plates along the western edge of the Pacific “Ring of Fire”.
The archipelago, home to around 125 million people, typically experiences around 1,500 jolts every year and accounts for about 18% of the world’s earthquakes.
The archipelago of some 125 million typically experiences between 1,000 and 2,000 jolts per year and accounts for about 18% of the world’s earthquakes.
The vast majority are mild, although the damage they cause varies according to their location and the depth below the Earth’s surface at which they strike.
A massive 9.0 magnitude undersea quake struck off the coast of Japan in 2011, triggering a tsunami that killed around 18,500 people and caused a devastating meltdown at the Fukushima nuclear plant.
In 2024, the JMA issued its first special advisory of a possible “megaquake” along the Nankai Trough. This 800-kilometre undersea trench is where the Philippine Sea oceanic tectonic plate is “subducting” or slowly slipping, underneath the continental plate that Japan sits atop.
The government has said a quake in the Nankai Trough and subsequent tsunami could kill as many as 298,000 people and cause up to $2 trillion (€1.7 trillion) in damages.
The JMA lifted the 2024 advisory a week later, but it led to panic-buying of staples like rice and prompted holidaymakers to cancel reservations, reflecting economic losses for the country.
It issued a week-long second “megaquake” advisory in December 2025 after a magnitude-7.5 tremor struck off the northern coast. The 8 December quake triggered tsunami waves of up to 70 centimetres and injured more than 40 people, but caused no major damage.
