Japan Hit by 6.7-Magnitude Tremor; Tsunami Advisory Issued for Coastal Areas

A forceful 6.7-magnitude earthquake struck off the Pacific coast of northern Japan at 9:14 a.m. local time Friday, only four days after a catastrophic 7.5-magnitude quake devastated the same region, injuring more than 50 people and leaving communities still clearing debris and restoring power.

The Japan Meteorological Agency immediately issued a tsunami advisory for coastal areas of Iwate, Aomori, and southern Hokkaido, warning that waves reaching up to one metre could arrive within hours along the Sanriku coastline, urging residents to evacuate beaches, ports, and river estuaries without delay.

The epicentre was located approximately 130 kilometres east-southeast of Kuji city in Iwate Prefecture at a relatively shallow depth of 50 kilometres, producing shaking of upper 4 on Japan’s 7-level intensity scale across wide areas of Tohoku and registering lower 4 in parts of southern Hokkaido and northern Honshu.

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While significantly weaker than Monday’s 7.5-magnitude event that cracked roads, shattered thousands of windows, triggered landslides, and sent 70-centimetre-high waves ashore, Friday’s tremor further rattled an already traumatised population still under a rare government-issued “special earthquake advisory” that warned of elevated risk of another major quake within seven days.

Japan’s hyper-vigilant monitoring system continues to detect hundreds of aftershocks daily, underscoring the nation’s precarious position astride the convergence of four tectonic plates on the western edge of the Pacific Ring of Fire, where roughly 1,500 earthquakes are recorded annually in a country that has perfected disaster preparedness yet remains perpetually at nature’s mercy.

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