30 injured as powerful 7.5 earthquake strikes Northern Japan

A major earthquake shook northern Japan late Monday night, leaving at least 30 people injured, damaging infrastructure, and cutting power to thousands as temperatures hovered around freezing.

The 7.5-magnitude quake, which the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) initially measured at 7.6, struck at 11:15 p.m. off the coast of Aomori Prefecture.

The powerful tremor triggered tsunami waves reaching up to 70 centimeters and prompted widespread evacuation alerts.

Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi confirmed the injury toll, noting that the jolt severely impacted communities in the northern region.

Scenes from affected towns showed collapsed roads, shattered windows, and vehicles trapped in large ground fissures.

Daiki Shimohata, a 33-year-old civil servant in Hashikami, described the quake as unlike anything he had ever experienced.

“The shaking lasted about 20 seconds. We grabbed our two children and ran outside,” he told reporters. “It reminded me of 2011.”

Emergency officials reported one person seriously injured in Hokkaido, where residents received smartphone alerts seconds before the intense shaking began.

Although early warnings forecast tsunami waves up to three metres, the highest recorded was under one metre.

More than 28,000 residents were advised to evacuate, and some temporary shelters quickly filled up.

Power outages affected roughly 2,700 homes, but most areas had electricity restored by Tuesday morning.

Bullet train operations were briefly halted for safety checks, and no abnormalities were found at the Higashidori or Onagawa nuclear plants.

Authorities continue to warn of strong aftershocks over the next week.

Earthquake experts noted that while large quakes rarely precede even stronger ones, the possibility can’t be ruled out entirely.

Japan, located on the volatile Pacific “Ring of Fire,” records over 1,500 quakes each year. The country still bears the scars of the 2011 magnitude-9.0 disaster that triggered a massive tsunami and the Fukushima nuclear meltdown.

Government projections released earlier this year warn that a potential “megaquake” in the Nankai Trough could cause nearly 300,000 deaths and economic losses reaching $2 trillion.