{"id":760342,"date":"2026-06-25T14:17:15","date_gmt":"2026-06-25T14:17:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/760342\/"},"modified":"2026-06-25T14:17:15","modified_gmt":"2026-06-25T14:17:15","slug":"strong-7-2-magnitude-earthquake-strikes-northern-japan-no-tsunami-threat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/760342\/","title":{"rendered":"Strong 7.2 magnitude earthquake strikes northern Japan, no tsunami threat"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

A man checks a retaining wall collapsed by the earthquake in Hachinohe, Aomori Prefecture, Japan on Thursday.KYODO\/Reuters<\/p>\n

A powerful earthquake struck off the northern coast of Japan during rush hour on Thursday morning, but the country\u2019s meteorological agency said there was no danger of a tsunami. <\/p>\n

The quake \u2014 off the eastern coast of the Iwate prefecture \u2014 had a magnitude of 7.2, upgraded from an initial reading of 6.9, the Japan Meteorological Agency said. The quake had a depth of about 50 kilometres, it said. The U.S. Geological Survey also reported the quake, giving its magnitude as 6.9. <\/p>\n

The temblor 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

Eight people were injured in northern prefectures of Aomori and Iwate, mainly from falling or being hit by falling objects, the Fire and Disaster Management Agency said. Japanese media had no report of life-threatening injuries.<\/p>\n

The quake also mildly shook Tokyo, where Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi told reporters that her government\u2019s emergency team is \u201cputting people\u2019s lives first,\u201d 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

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

The wall of a building is seen partly damaged following the earthquake.Uncredited\/The Associated Press<\/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. 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

Footage on Japan\u2019s NHK public television showed several towns, including Sendai and Morioka, saying they felt the shaking for a couple of minutes but have not seen any damage. Videos showed people commuting as usual.<\/p>\n

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

Nuclear power plants and facilities, including the Fukushima Daiichi plant which was damaged by the 2011 massive quake and tsunami, and a spent fuel reprocessing plant in Aomori, have not reported any abnormalities from Thursday\u2019s earthquake, government spokesperson Minoru Kihara said. <\/p>\n

Japan, which sits on what is known as the Pacific Ring of Fire, is one of the world\u2019s most earthquake-prone areas.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: A man checks a retaining wall collapsed by the earthquake in Hachinohe, Aomori…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":760343,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[901,888,902,879,877,903,49,48,876,895,896,891,878,875,46,549,295,894,887,914,880,881,893,889,890,884,904,885,909,910,912,907,911,905,908,882,898,899,714,897,906,66,865,61,900,892,886,883,913],"class_list":["post-760342","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-alberta","tag-arts-news","tag-bc","tag-breaking-news","tag-breaking-news-video","tag-british-columbia","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-canada-news","tag-canada-sports","tag-canada-sports-news","tag-canada-trafficcanada-weather","tag-canadian-breaking-news","tag-canadian-news","tag-economy","tag-education","tag-environment","tag-federal-government","tag-foreign-news","tag-globe-and-mail","tag-globe-and-mail-breaking-news","tag-globe-and-mail-canada-news","tag-government","tag-life-news","tag-lifestyle","tag-local-news","tag-manitoba","tag-national-news","tag-new-brunswick","tag-newfoundland-and-labrador","tag-northwest-territories","tag-nova-scotia","tag-nunavut","tag-ontario","tag-pei","tag-photos","tag-political-news","tag-political-opinion","tag-politics","tag-politics-news","tag-quebec","tag-science","tag-sports-news","tag-technology","tag-travel","tag-trudeau","tag-us-news","tag-world-news","tag-yukon"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/760342","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=760342"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/760342\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/760343"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=760342"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=760342"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=760342"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}