Japan issues tsunami alert after 6.7-magnitude earthquake

An earthquake of magnitude 6.7 (or 6.8 by the US Geological Survey), struck an offshore region of northern Japan on Sunday afternoon, prompting a tsunami advisory for the Iwate coast.

The quake hit around 5:03 pm local time in the waters off Iwate Prefecture.

The Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) warned that this seismic activity could generate a tsunami of up to one meter (three feet) high, advising residents to stay clear of coastal areas as waves could arrive immediately.

National broadcaster NHK confirmed that small offshore tsunami waves had already been observed. Live feeds, however, initially showed the seas to be calm.

The region remains sensitive to offshore quakes due to the devastating 9.0-magnitude earthquake and subsequent massive tsunami in 2011, which resulted in approximately 18,500 deaths or missing persons. That disaster also caused meltdowns at the Fukushima nuclear plant, marking Japan’s worst crisis since World War II.

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Japan is one of the world’s most seismically active countries, sitting atop the Pacific “Ring of Fire.” The archipelago, home to about 125 million people, experiences roughly 1,500 tremors every year, though most are mild.