Japan issues tsunami alert after 7.1-magnitude earthquake strikes southwest

The tremor, which occurred at 4:27 pm 0727 GMT on the island of Kyushu, registered at the highest level seven on Japan's Shindo scale of shaking, according to the Japan Meteorological Agency. The agency indicated that a tsunami up to one meter three feet could occur, with broadcaster NHK reporting that waves of this magnitude might have already been recorded. The Nuclear Regulation Authority stated that no immediate abnormalities were observed at nuclear power plants.

Approximately 45,000 households and facilities in the Kumamoto region experienced power loss, as reported by local utility Kyushu Electric Power, which also confirmed that three operating nuclear reactors in the region continued normal operations. A local NHK staffer reported live that shaking was ongoing and intense enough to make standing difficult. Japan is highly seismically active, situated on four major tectonic plates, and experiences hundreds of tremors annually.

The country has a history of significant earthquakes, including the 2011 9.0-magnitude undersea quake that caused a tsunami, resulting in approximately 18,500 deaths or missing persons and damage to the Fukushima nuclear plant, and two devastating earthquakes in Kumamoto in 2016 that killed 273 people.