6.7-magnitude earthquake jolts northern Japan; tsunami warning issued

An earthquake of 6.7 magnitude hit the coast of Aomori prefecture with a depth of 20 km at 11.44 am local time. The Japan Meteorological Agency has issued a tsunami warning with waves expected up to 1 metre along the northern Pacific coastline.

There have been no reports of casualties or property damage so far. The JMA also stated that no tsunami damage is expected from the tremor.


The magnitude was preliminarily estimated to be 6.5, which was later updated to 6.7 by the JMA. The intensity was measured at 4 on Japan's 1-7 seismic intensity scale.

The quake follows a larger tremor that struck the same region with a magnitude of 7.5 on Monday, injuring at least 50 people. It had also triggered tsunami waves of up to 70 centimetres. After this, the JMA had issued a warning that a quake of similar or bigger intensity was possible for another week. This covered a wide area, from Hokkaido in the north to Chiba and east of Tokyo.

The northeastern coast of Japan also holds the history of the devastating 9.0 magnitude undersea earthquake that shook the nation in 2011, leaving around 18,500 people dead or missing.