{"id":8721,"date":"2026-04-20T16:00:05","date_gmt":"2026-04-20T16:00:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/8721\/"},"modified":"2026-04-20T16:00:05","modified_gmt":"2026-04-20T16:00:05","slug":"japan-earthquake-mapped-country-on-high-alert-for-large-quake-after-tsunami-warnings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/8721\/","title":{"rendered":"Japan earthquake mapped: Country on high alert for large quake after tsunami warnings"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"On<\/p>\n

On The Ground newsletter: Get a weekly dispatch from our international correspondentsGet a weekly dispatch from our international correspondentsGet a weekly international news dispatch<\/p>\n

\"On<\/p>\n

Japan<\/a> was hit by a 7.7 magnitude earthquake<\/a> on Monday as residents were warned to stay away from coastal areas where 10ft waves were expected. <\/p>\n

The tremor struck at 4.53pm local time (7.53am GMT) off the northeastern coast of Japan\u2019s Sanriku<\/a> and 330 miles (530km) from the country\u2019s capital Tokyo<\/a>, with an epicentre in the Pacific Ocean measured at a depth of around 20km. <\/p>\n

It prompted the Japanese Meteorological Agency to issue tsunami warnings, the second-highest alert <\/a>capable of being issued, along swathes of the country\u2019s coast – meaning waves of between one to three metres were originally expected. <\/p>\n

Warnings were later downgraded to \u201cadvisories\u201d meaning swells of up to one metre were predicted. <\/p>\n

No casualties or major damage were reported but 100 homes were left without power, Japan\u2019s government spokesperson Minoru Kihara told a news conference in Tokyo on Monday. <\/p>\n

\"\"(Reuters)<\/p>\n

However, bullet train services were halted and some motorways were closed due to the tremors, which are reported to have been felt as far away as Tokyo. <\/p>\n

The government issued a warning of a heightened risk of a megaquake and the JMA said that the chances of a larger earthquake<\/a> of magnitude 8 or higher were ten times higher than usual and \u201crelatively higher than during normal times\u201d. <\/p>\n

Normal predictions measure the chances of an earthquake at around a 0.1 per cent probability, but on Monday the chances were one per cent. <\/p>\n

\u201cPlease take anti-disaster steps, while embracing the idea that one must protect one’s own life,\u201d a government official urged the public. <\/p>\n

\"BoatsBoats are seen off shore around Tokachi Port in Hiroo Town, Hokkaido on April 20, 2026, following a tsunami warning after an earthquake off the coast earlier in the day. (AFP\/Getty)<\/p>\n

\u201cRight now, local authorities are using loudspeakers in the neighbourhood to warn people about a possible tsunami and to stay alert,\u201d Chaw Su Thwe, a Myanmar national residing in Hokkaido told the BBC. \u201cOffice workers have been allowed to leave work early.”<\/p>\n

Over 156,000 people were reported to have been evacuated across five prefectures across the country\u2019s coastline. <\/p>\n

Japan’s prime minister, Sanae Takaichi, said the government had set up an emergency task force \u2060and urged citizens in the affected areas to evacuate to \u200bsafety in the aftermath of the warning. <\/p>\n

Broadcaster \u2060NHK showed ships sailing \u200cout of Hachinohe port in Hokkaido <\/a>in anticipation of the waves, as an alert reading \u201cTsunami! Evacuate!\u201d flashed across the screen to inform viewers. <\/p>\n

Emergency alert app NERV advised people to stay away from the coast and to avoid large bodies of water until the advisories were no longer in place. <\/p>\n

\"CoastalCoastal areas in Japan were urged to evacuate (Sky News)<\/p>\n

The incident will trigger memories of the devastating 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami, which killed 18,000 people and caused a meltdown at the Fukushima nuclear plant. <\/p>\n

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said that no abnormalities had been observed at Japan\u2019s nuclear facilities following the earthquake. <\/p>\n

Japan is situated within the \u201cRing of Fire\u201d of volcanoes and oceanic trenches, which partly encircle the Pacific Basin. It is one of the world\u2019s most earthquake-prone countries with tremors recorded at least every five minutes. <\/p>\n

Around 20 per cent of the world\u2019s earthquakes recorded at a magnitude of six or higher are recorded in Japan. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"On The Ground newsletter: Get a weekly dispatch from our international correspondentsGet a weekly dispatch from our international…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":8722,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[7600,3805,7601,2840,8,31,7599],"class_list":{"0":"post-8721","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-japan","8":"tag-bestof","9":"tag-earthquake","10":"tag-essential","11":"tag-horizontal","12":"tag-japan","13":"tag-nippon","14":"tag-topix"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8721","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=8721"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8721\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8722"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8721"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8721"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8721"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}