Powerful Quake Hits Northeastern Japan

Tokyo, Dec. 9 (Jiji Press)–A powerful earthquake mainly struck Japan’s Tohoku northeastern region, including Aomori Prefecture, on Monday night, measuring up to upper 6, the second-highest level on the country’s seismic intensity scale. The temblor, with an estimated magnitude of 7.6, occurred at a depth of about 50 kilometers off the east coast of Aomori around 11:15 p.m., with upper 6 registered in the city of Hachinohe in the prefecture and lower 6, the third-highest level, in the Aomori towns of Oirase and Hashikami. The Japan Meteorological Agency issued tsunami warnings to the Pacific coastal area of Aomori and the central part of the Pacific coastal area of the northernmost prefecture of Hokkaido as well as Iwate Prefecture, an Aomori neighbor. A tsunami of 70 centimeters was observed in the Iwate city of Kuji, a 50-centimeter-high tsunami in the Hokkaido town of Urakawa and 40-centimeter tsunamis in places including the Aomori village of Rokkasho, according to the agency. Tsunami advisories were issued to the eastern and western parts of the Pacific coastal area of Hokkaido, the Sea of Japan coastal area of Aomori, and Miyagi and Fukushima prefectures in Tohoku. The meteorological agency issued for the first time a warning on the possibility of powerful earthquakes continuing off the Sanriku coasts in Tohoku or Hokkaido. The agency and the Cabinet Office will call on people in Pacific areas of Hokkaido to Chiba Prefecture, east of Tokyo, to prepare for major tremors and tsunamis for about a week. According to the Aomori prefectural government’s disaster response headquarters, one person was injured as a national route near a train station in the town of Tohoku in the prefecture collapsed due to the Monday night quake. Electricity supply was temporarily lost at a total of about 4,200 households in Aomori and Iwate, said a unit of Tohoku Electric Power Co. Meanwhile, no abnormalities were found after the earthquake at Tohoku Electric’s Higashidori nuclear power station in the Aomori village of Higashidori, its Onagawa nuclear plant, which straddles the city of Ishinomaki and the town of Onagawa in Miyagi, and Hokkaido Electric Power Co.’s Tomari nuclear plant in the Hokkaido village of Tomari, according to the secretariat of the Nuclear Regulation Authority. Japan Nuclear Fuel Ltd.’s spent nuclear fuel reprocessing plant in Rokkasho also experienced no abnormalities from the quake, according to the village. East Japan Railway Co., or JR East, suspended outbound services of its Tohoku Shinkansen bullet train line’s section between Shin-Aomori Station in Aomori and Fukushima Station in Fukushima. Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi instructed her government staff to quickly figure out the extent of possible damage from the earthquake, provide accurate information to the public and rescue people affected by the natural disaster. In an post on X, formerly Twitter, Takaichi called on people in areas where the tsunami warnings were issued to immediately evacuate to safety and remain at safe places until the warnings are lifted. The government set up an emergency response office at the crisis management center of the prime minister’s office in Tokyo. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]