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A powerful earthquake struck northern Japan’s Hokkaido island early Monday, according to both US and Japanese weather agencies, marking the latest in a series of seismic events affecting the region. The earthquake registered a magnitude of 6.2 and hit at 5:23 a.m. local time (Sunday 9:23 p.m. GMT) in the southern part of Hokkaido. The Japanese Meteorological Agency (JMA) revised its initial estimate of magnitude 6.1 to 6.2, with the quake occurring at a depth of 83 kilometers (52 miles).
No tsunami warning was issued by JMA, and the U.S. Geological Survey indicated that damage to property and risks to life were expected to be minimal due to the low population density in the area, situated roughly 200 kilometers east of Sapporo. However, officials noted that areas subject to intense shaking could face increased hazards like falling rocks and landslides. JMA also warned that the probability of additional quakes of similar strength in the coming week remains high.
Earlier that day, a magnitude 5.0 tremor occurred offshore, several hundred kilometers south of Hokkaido. These events come shortly after JMA issued warnings of an elevated risk of a major quake—an 8.0 magnitude or greater—following last Monday’s 7.7 magnitude earthquake off northern Iwate Prefecture. That quake injured six people and caused significant shaking in Tokyo, hundreds of kilometers from the epicenter. It also triggered 80-centimeter (31-inch) tsunami waves in a port in Iwate, with smaller waves occurring elsewhere in northern Japan.
Following the Iwate quake, JMA stated that the likelihood of a new, large-scale earthquake in the region was higher than usual. Japan remains one of the most seismically active countries globally, situated atop four major tectonic plates along the Pacific “Ring of Fire.” The country, home to about 125 million people, typically experiences around 1,500 earthquakes annually, accounting for roughly 18% of the world’s seismic activity.
The nation holds the tragic memory of the massive 9.0 magnitude undersea quake in 2011, which caused a devastating tsunami resulting in approximately 18,500 deaths or missing persons and triggering a nuclear meltdown at Fukushima.
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