Japan had a frightening Monday afternoon on April 20, 2026. A powerful earthquake measuring between 7.4 and 7.7 in magnitude struck the Pacific Ocean waters off the northern coast at exactly 4:53 PM local time. The ground shook hard enough that people hundreds of kilometres away, even in the busy streets of Tokyo, could feel their buildings swaying. The quake struck in waters off Iwate Prefecture on Japan’s Pacific coast, at a depth of 20 kilometres, about 100 km from the shoreline.
Within minutes, the Japan Meteorological Agency fired off a tsunami warning one of the most serious alerts it can issue. Authorities warned that waves as high as three metres could hit the coast, and that the first waves could arrive almost immediately. Television screens across the country lit up with bold red warnings. The national broadcaster NHK flashed the words “Tsunami! Evacuate! Don’t turn back” in both Japanese and English, and sirens wailed all along the coastline.
Thankfully, the actual waves that arrived were much smaller than feared. The biggest wave recorded was 80 centimetres at Kuji Port in Iwate Prefecture. Miyako Port nearby saw a 40 cm wave, Hokkaido’s Urakawa recorded 40 cm, and Hachinohe Port in Aomori saw a 30 cm wave. Later in the evening, the initial three-metre tsunami warning was downgraded to a tsunami advisory a relief, though authorities still urged people to stay well away from the coast.
As of Monday evening, no injuries or damage to homes had been recorded, according to Chief Cabinet Secretary Minoru Kihara, though the situation was still being assessed. Around 200 power outages were reported across the affected areas, and crews were working to restore electricity. Despite this, Japan’s disaster management agency issued evacuation orders to nearly 172,000 people spread across five prefectures. Coastal towns that were badly destroyed back in 2011 including Otsuchi and Kamaishi once again ordered thousands of residents to move to higher ground.
Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said the government had set up a crisis management team and was working to assess the impact of the earthquake. She urged coastal residents to evacuate immediately and not wait to see whether waves were actually coming. On the transport side, bullet train services between Tokyo and Shin-Aomori were suspended due to a power outage, and all local trains in Iwate Prefecture also came to a halt. As for nuclear safety, Tokyo Electric Power Company confirmed no abnormalities at the Fukushima Daiichi and Fukushima Daini plants, and the Tohoku Electric Power Company reported the same for its Onagawa and Higashidori plants.
The danger, however, may not be fully over. The JMA issued a special “subsequent quake advisory,” warning that the chance of a magnitude 8 or stronger earthquake striking the region is now around 1% about ten times higher than normal and this advisory will remain active until April 27. Japan sits on the Pacific Ring of Fire, where several tectonic plates meet, and experiences about 1,500 earthquakes every year, accounting for almost 18% of the world’s total seismic activity. For many Japanese people, Monday’s event brought back painful memories of the 2011 magnitude-9 earthquake and tsunami that killed around 18,500 people and triggered the Fukushima nuclear disaster a tragedy this nation has never fully left behind.
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