{"id":47300,"date":"2026-06-25T15:05:19","date_gmt":"2026-06-25T15:05:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/47300\/"},"modified":"2026-06-25T15:05:19","modified_gmt":"2026-06-25T15:05:19","slug":"powerful-7-2-magnitude-earthquake-strikes-off-northern-japan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/47300\/","title":{"rendered":"Powerful 7.2-magnitude earthquake strikes off northern Japan"},"content":{"rendered":"

A powerful earthquake struck off Japan’s northern coast on Thursday, but the country’s meteorological agency said there was no danger of a tsunami.<\/p>\n

The quake had a magnitude of 7.2 and occurred off the eastern coast of Iwate, upgraded from an initial reading of 6.9, the Japan Meteorological Agency said. The quake had a depth of about 30 miles, it said.<\/p>\n

The US Geological Survey also reported a magnitude of 6.9.<\/p>\n

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A wall collapsed from the side of a building after an earthquake in Hachinohe, Japan, on June 25, 2026. via REUTERS<\/p>\n

The rattling occurred in an area where strong earthquakes have repeatedly been reported in recent months, including one that triggered a weeklong mega-quake caution advisory in December.<\/p>\n

The quake, which struck Japan’s northeastern region during Thursday’s morning rush hour, also mildly shook Tokyo.<\/p>\n

There were no immediate reports of injuries or damage, according to top government spokesperson Minoru Kihara.<\/p>\n

Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi told reporters in Tokyo that her government’s emergency team is “putting people’s lives first,” while assessing information and preparing for relief operations, if needed.<\/p>\n

She urged residents in the affected regions to use caution against possible aftershocks.<\/p>\n

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The locations of major earthquakes that struck around the Pacific Ring of Fire in a span of 24 hours between June 24 and June 25, 2026. Anadolu via Getty Images<\/p>\n

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A Japanese alert about “intense tremors” being reported after the 7.2 earthquake in Japan on June 25, 2026. AFP via Getty Images<\/p>\n

Tomoko Nagane, a primary school principal in the town of Hashikami in Aomori prefecture, told NHK that she was driving when the quake alert went off and that she felt moderate sideway shaking.<\/p>\n

Children already gathered at the school were safe, she said, though some were crying in fear.<\/p>\n

Classes were canceled for the day and children have all returned home safely, Nagane said.<\/p>\n

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Office supplies and furniture is scattered in a room at the Hashikami Town Hall after an earthquake. Hashakami Town Hall\/AFP via Getty Images<\/p>\n

Footage on Japan’s NHK public television quoted its journalists from a number of strongly hit towns, including Sendai and Morioka, saying they felt the shaking for a couple of minutes but have not seen any damage.<\/p>\n

Footage showed people commuting as usual.<\/p>\n

The East Japan Railway Co., which operates trains in northeastern regions, said some bullet trains and other local lines have been suspended for safety checks.<\/p>\n

Nuclear power plants and facilities, including the\u00a0Fukushima Daiichi\u00a0plant which was damaged by\u00a0the 2011 massive quake and tsunami,<\/a> and a spent fuel reprocessing plant in Aomori, have not reported any abnormalities from Thursday’s earthquake, Kihara said.<\/p>\n

Japan, which sits on what is known as the Pacific Ring of Fire, is one of the world’s most earthquake-prone areas.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A powerful earthquake struck off Japan’s northern coast on Thursday, but the country’s meteorological agency said there was…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":47301,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[8604,32783,32782,8,4841,997,32784,7399,7366,8511],"class_list":["post-47300","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-japan","tag-earthquake-in-japan","tag-government-spokesperson","tag-hachinohe","tag-japan","tag-japan-meteorological-agency","tag-minoru-kihara","tag-northeastern-region","tag-northern-coast","tag-pacific-ring-of-fire","tag-us-geological-survey"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47300","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=47300"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47300\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/47301"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=47300"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=47300"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=47300"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}