Strong earthquake off Japan’s coast leaves dozens injured

By CHRISTINE HAUSER, HISAKO UENO and JAVIER C. HERNÁNDEZ

A powerful earthquake off the coast of northern Japan on Monday night prompted a tsunami warning and left more than 30 people injured, authorities said.

The earthquake, which had a magnitude of 7.6, caused buildings to sway and bridges to shake, according to local news outlets. There were no reports of deaths or major damage, and by Tuesday morning, the Japanese government had lifted the tsunami warning.

“We are continuing to work to understand the damage,” Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said at a news conference Tuesday.

The Japan Meteorological Agency said that the earthquake occurred off Aomori prefecture on Japan’s main island, Honshu, after 11 p.m. local time Monday, and that it was followed by a series of aftershocks Tuesday, including one with a magnitude of 6.6.

On Monday night, the meteorological agency issued a tsunami warning for Aomori, Iwate and Hokkaido prefectures and tsunami advisories for Miyagi and Fukushima prefectures. Residents were told to evacuate to high ground. All warnings and advisories were lifted by about 6 a.m. Tuesday.

At a port in Iwate prefecture on the island of Honshu, tsunami waves of more than 2.2 feet were detected.

Waves of more than 1.3 feet were observed in Mutsu-Ogawara port in Aomori prefecture and Urakawa in Hokkaido. A tsunami less than 1 foot high was observed in the town of Erimo in Hokkaido.

The earthquake caused a small water leak at a nuclear fuel processing plant in Aomori, authorities said, but the leak was contained and Japan’s Nuclear Regulation Authority said there were no safety concerns.

In Hachinohe City, on Honshu, fires and power outages occurred, prompting emergency calls, and a high school was opened as an evacuation shelter, said Minoru Kihara, the chief Cabinet secretary.

About 800 households in Iwate prefecture on the island lost power, he said. Expressways and rail services were disrupted.

NHK, Japan’s public broadcaster, said staff members at a hotel in Aomori reported that multiple people were injured.

Kenta Kobayashi, a reporter in Tomakomai, a city in Hokkaido, said he felt strong shaking. “I could not stand without holding something,” he said.

Tsunami advisories and warnings are regularly issued after earthquakes in Japan. Last month, the meteorological agency briefly issued a tsunami advisory when a 6.7-magnitude earthquake struck off the coast of Honshu.