Japan earthquake: Another quake of 6.7 magnitude strikes region days after 7.5 tremor

Another earthquake of magnitude 6.7 struck Japan on Friday (Dec 12), days after a 7.5 magnitude jolted the same region, injuring at least 50 people. The United States Geological Survey (USGS) said that the quake occurred 130 kilometres (81 miles) off the city of Kuji in Iwate prefecture on the main island of Honshu. The Japan Meteorological Agency earlier warned of tsunami waves of up to one metre (three feet), which could hit the northern Pacific coastline. However, the advisory was lifted later.

The agency said that two 2-centimetre waves were spotted, one in the town of Erimo on the main northern island of Hokkaido at 12:35 pm local time, and another three minutes later in the Aomori region.

Meanwhile, the Nuclear Regulation Authority on Friday said that there were no immediate signs of abnormalities in nuclear facilities in the region.

Broadcaster NHK reported that the level of shaking during the recent quake was less than the one that happened late Monday, which resulted in widespread chaos and triggered tsunami waves of up to 70 centimetres. Videos shared on social media showed items getting knocked off shelves, roads being damaged due to the strong earthquake.

Following the 7.5 magnitude quake, JMA had issued a rare special advisory, warning of another seismic event of similar or greater magnitude possible for another week. The warning mentioned the Sanriku area on the northeastern tip of Japan’s main island of Honshu and the northern island of Hokkaido, which faces the Pacific.

Japan is one of the world’s most seismically active countries. The island nation lies on top of four major tectonic plates along the western edge of the Pacific “Ring of Fire”. With a population of about 125 million people, Japan experiences about 1,500 earthquakes every year and accounts for about 18 per cent of the earthquakes in the world.

In 2011, the country was struck by a massive 9.0 magnitude earthquake, which triggered a tsunami. About 18,500 people were killed or went missing in the disaster.

In August 2024, the JMA issued a “megaquake” warning along the Nankai Trough and a subsequent tsunami that could kill as many as 298,000 people and result in damages of up to $2 trillion.