Japan issues rare mega-quake warning after country rocked by huge 7.6 magnitude tremor

The agency suggested the quake could occur along the Japan Trench and the Chishima Trench – approximately 150km from the Japanese coast.

Morikubo Tsukasa, the Cabinet Office's director for disaster management, stressed in a news conference the potentially devastating tremor was not a prediction but a possibility based on global earthquake data.

Mr Morikubo said: “Based on the statistics of earthquakes that have occurred around the world so far, there is a possibility that a large-scale earthquake with a magnitude of 8 or higher could occur as a follow-up earthquake along the Japan Trench and the Chishima Trench off Hokkaido.

“It is unclear whether a large-scale earthquake will occur. But everyone should heed the call to take precautions to protect their own lives.”

Despite the warning being predominantly for northern Japan, Mr Morikubo added people along the Pacific coast from Hokkaido to Chiba prefectures should remain on alert.

Government officials are urging both residents and tourists to check evacuation routes, prepare emergency kits, secure furniture and confirm backup food, water and portable toilets.

The warning marks the first time the alert has ever been used since it was introduced in 2022, following a series of measures introduced following the Great East Japan Earthquake which claimed nearly 20,000 lives.

According to the Japanese Government, which recently saw a change of Prime Ministers, the probability of a mega quake occurring within a week is about one in a hundred.

Professor Sekiya Naoya of the University of Tokyo Graduate School warned if a mega quake were to strike, as many as 200,000 people could die.

On Monday, tsunami warnings were triggered across northern parts of the country following a large 7.6 earthquake.

The tremor struck 80km (50 miles) off the eastern coast of Aomori prefecture at around 11.15pm local time, with an estimated depth of 54 kilometres (30 miles).

Reports indicate 33 people were injured in the natural disaster across Hokkaido, Aomori and Iwate prefectures.

In the immediate wake of its detection, a three-metre tsunami warning was issued, but by the time the wave reached shores, it was around 70cm tall.

The warning was later downgraded to advisories before being lifted altogether by 6.20am this morning.

Social media users in Tokyo reported feeling shaking despite being approximately 580km from the epicentre.

Japan's location in the Pacific Ring of Fire - a region which records approximately 90 per cent of the world's earthquakes - means the nation is prepared for major tremors such as the one today.

It is estimated the country records up to 100,000 total seismic events per year but only feels up to 2,000 of them.

Usually, major earthquakes above a magnitude 7 are recorded in Japan just once a year.

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