Japan is assessing the damage caused by a 7.5 magnitude earthquake that struck late on Monday, resulting in several injuries, minor damage, and a tsunami in Pacific coastal communities.
At least 33 people were injured, with one seriously, the Fire and Disaster Management Agency said. Most of them were hit by falling objects, according to Japan’s public broadcaster NHK.
Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi told reporters an emergency task force was urgently assessing the damage.
“We are putting people’s lives first and doing everything we can,” she said.
At a parliamentary session on Tuesday, Takaichi pledged the government would continue its utmost effort and reminded people they have to protect their own lives, as it warned of the possibility of potential aftershocks in the wake of Monday’s quake.
The 7.5 magnitude quake struck around 11:15pm local time in the Pacific Ocean, around 80 kilometres (50 miles) off the coast of Aomori, the northernmost prefecture of Japan’s main Honshu island.
Japan’s Meteorological Agency measured the quake at 7.6 magnitude, while the US Geological Survey measured it at 7.6 magnitude and said it occurred 44 kilometres (27 miles) below the surface.
A tsunami of up to 70 centimetres (2 feet, 4 inches) was measured in Kuji port in Iwate prefecture, just south of Aomori, and waves up to 50 centimetres struck other communities in the region, the Japan Meteorological Agency said.
NHK reported that the waves damaged some oyster rafts.
The agency lifted all tsunami advisories by 6:30am on Tuesday.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Minoru Kihara said about 800 homes were without electricity, and Shinkansen bullet trains and some local lines were suspended in parts of the region in the early hours of Tuesday. East Japan Railway said it is aiming to resume bullet trains in the region later on Tuesday.
Power was mostly restored by Tuesday morning, according to the Tohoku Electric Power Co.
About 480 residents sheltered at Hachinohe Air Base, and 18 defence helicopters were mobilised for a damage assessment, Defence Minister Shinjiro Koizumi said.
About 200 passengers were stranded for the night at New Chitose Airport in Hokkaido, NHK reported, after part of a domestic terminal building became unusable when parts of its ceiling cracked and fell to the floor, according to the airport operator.
The Nuclear Regulation Authority said about 450 litres of water spilled from a spent fuel cooling area at the Rokkasho fuel reprocessing plant in Aomori, but that its water level remained within the normal range and there was no safety concern. No abnormalities were found at other nuclear power plants and spent fuel storage facilities, the NRA said.
Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) cautioned about possible aftershocks in the coming days, saying there is a slight increase in risk of a magnitude 8-level quake and possible tsunami occurring along Japan’s northeastern coast from Chiba, just east of Tokyo, to Hokkaido.
The agency urged residents in 182 municipalities in the area to monitor their emergency preparedness in the coming week, reminding them that the caution is not yet a prediction of a second large quake.
Monday’s quake occurred just north of the coastal region where the magnitude 9.0 quake and tsunami in 2011 killed nearly 20,000 people and destroyed the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.
“You need to prepare, assuming that a disaster like that could happen again,” JMA official Satoshi Harada said.
Smaller aftershocks were continuing on Tuesday. The US Geological Survey reported a magnitude 6.6 and later a 5.1 quake in the hours after the initial temblor.
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