A spokesperson gives a press conference at the the Japan Meteorological Agency in Tokyo Tuesday, Jan. 6, 2026, after a strong earthquake hit western Japan.
| Photo Credit: AP

People take shelter outside building following an earthquake in Miyazaki, western Japan on August 8, 2024. Photo: Kyodo News via AP

A powerful earthquake struck off Japan’s southern coast on August 8, triggering a tsunami advisory. Residents were urged to stay away from the coastline, but there were no immediate reports of injuries or serious damage.

The Japan Meteorological Agency said the quake registered magnitude 7.1 and was centered in waters off the eastern coast of Japan’s southern main island of Kyushu at a depth of about 30 kilometres (18.6 miles).

Also Read: Ring of Fire: the most dynamic place on Earth

The quake most strongly shook Nichinan city and nearby areas in Miyazaki prefecture on Kyushu island.

The agency said tsunami waves of up 50 centimetres (1.6 feet) were detected along parts of Kyushu’s southern coast and the nearby island of Shikoku about a half hour after the quake struck.

Seismologists were holding an emergency meeting to analyse whether the quake had affected the nearby Nankai Trough, the source of past devastating earthquakes.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi said officials were assessing possible injuries or serious damage, though none were immediately reported. He urged residents of the affected region to stay away from the coastline.

Seismology Department official Shigeki Aoki warned that strong aftershocks could occur for about a week.

Japan’s NHK public television said windows were broken at the Miyazaki airport near the epicentre. The airport’s runway was temporarily closed for safety checks.

NHK showed dozens of people gathering at a designated hilltop evacuation area.

In Osaki in neighbouring Kagoshima prefecture, concrete walls collapsed and a wooden house was damaged, but no injuries were reported.

The Nuclear Regulation Authority said all 12 nuclear reactors, including three that are currently operating, on Kyushu and Shikoku remained safe.

Earthquakes in areas with nuclear power plants have been a major concern since a massive earthquake and tsunami in March 2011 triggered the Fukushima nuclear disaster.

Japan sits on the Pacific “Ring of Fire,” a line of seismic faults encircling the Pacific Ocean, and is one of the world’s most earthquake-prone countries.

An earthquake on Jan. 1 in Japan’s north-central region of Noto left more than 240 people dead.

Tokyo:

A major 7.4-magnitude earthquake hit Taiwan’s east on Wednesday morning, prompting tsunami warnings for the self-ruled island as well as parts of southern Japan and the Philippines.

The quake hit just before 8:00am local time (0000 GMT), with the United States Geological Survey (USGS) putting the epicentre 18 kilometres (11 miles) south of Taiwan’s Hualien City, at a depth of 34.8 km.

Japan’s Meteorological Agency issued a warning for tsunami waves as high as three metres (10 feet) for remote Japanese islands in the region, including Miyakojima island. 

In Taiwan, authorities issued a tsunami warning via text message “to remind people in coastal areas to be vigilant and take strict precautions and pay attention to the dangers caused by sudden surges in waves”. 

The initial earthquake was felt across Taiwan, with AFP reporters from the southern Pingtung county to the north in Taipei reporting strong shaking sensations. 

The aftershocks — which included a 6.5-magnitude earthquake near Hualien according to Taipei’s weather agency — were also felt in Taipei. 

In the capital, the metro briefly stopped running but appeared to have resumed within an hour, while residents received warnings from their local borough chiefs to check for any gas leaks. 

“I wanted to run out but I wasn’t dressed. That was so strong,” said Kelvin Hwang, a guest at a downtown hotel who sought shelter in the lift lobby on the ninth floor.

Officials said the earthquake was the strongest felt on the island in decades.

“The earthquake is close to land and it’s shallow. It’s felt all over Taiwan and offshore islands,” said Wu Chien-fu, director of Taipei’s Central Weather Administration’s Seismology Center.

“It’s the strongest in 25 years since the (1999) earthquake,” he told reporters. 

A 7.6-magnitude quake hit Taiwan in September 1999, killing around 2,400 people in the deadliest natural disaster in the island’s history.

Wu warned that authorities are not ruling out that “there will be earthquakes with magnitude of 6.5 to 7 in three days which will be relatively close to the land”.

“The public should pay attention to relevant warnings and messages and be prepared for earthquake evacuation.”

Earthquake territory

Taiwan is regularly hit by earthquakes as the island lies near the junction of two tectonic plates, while nearby Japan experiences around 1,500 jolts every year. 

To Taiwan’s west, the Philippines also issued a tsunami warning and called for the evacuation of coastal areas. 

Coastal areas in the northern provinces of Batanes, Cagayan, Illocos Norte and Isabela “are expected to experience high tsunami waves” based on tsunami wave models, the state seismological agency said. 

In Japan, a banner on national broadcaster NHK said “Evacuate!”

“Tsunami is coming. Please evacuate immediately,” an anchor on NHK said. “Do not stop. Do not go back.”

Live TV footage from the Okinawa region’s ports, including Naha, showed vessels heading out to sea, possibly in efforts to protect their ships.

Flights were suspended at Okinawa’s main airport as a precautionary measure, a transport ministry official told AFP.

The vast majority of quakes around the area are mild, although the damage they cause varies according to the depth of the epicentre below the Earth’s surface and its location.

The severity of tsunamis — vast and potentially destructive series of waves that can move at hundreds of miles (kilometres) per hour — also depends upon multiple factors.

Japan’s biggest earthquake on record was a massive 9.0-magnitude undersea jolt in March 2011 off Japan’s northeast coast, which triggered a tsunami that left around 18,500 people dead or missing.

The 2011 catastrophe also sent three reactors into meltdown at the Fukushima nuclear plant, causing Japan’s worst post-war disaster and the most serious nuclear accident since Chernobyl.

Japan saw a major quake on New Year’s Day this year, when a 7.5-magnitude earthquake hit Noto Peninsula and killed more than 230 people, many of them when older buildings collapsed.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Tokyo:

An earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 6.1 hit Iwate and Aomori prefectures in northern Japan on Tuesday, the Japan Meteorological Agency said.

The epicenter was northern coastal part of Iwate Prefecture, the agency said, adding that a tsunami warning had not been issued.

There were no reports of immediate damage.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

People throw leaves with messages written on them into the sea for the victims of the 2011 earthquake and tsunami disasters in Japan.
| Photo Credit: AFP

An earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 5.8 hit eastern Japan early on March 15 (Japan local time), the Japan Meteorological Agency said.

The epicentre of the earthquake was off the coast of Fukushima prefecture, where strong tremors were recorded, the agency said, adding that a tsunami warning had not been issued.

There were no immediate reports of damage.

A magnitude 6.1 earthquake struck Japan’s Izu islands on Oct. 6, the European Mediterranean Seismological Centre (EMSC) said.

The quake was at a depth of 10 km (6.21 miles), EMSC said.