Japan Braces for Potential Tsunami After Magnitude 7.7 Quake

0:00On April 20th, a 7.7 magnitude earthquake hit off Japan's northeast coast near Iwadae Prefecture, about 530 kilometers. North of Tokyo, it struck at 4.52 pm local time at a depth of 10 kilometers, prompting immediate evacuation orders for coastal areas and warnings of up to 3-meter tsunami waves. Officials from the meteorological agency ramped up alerts, saying quakes with even stronger shaking could hit in the next week, possibly triggering. Bigger waves, they noted the risk of an 8.0 or higher quake is now relatively higher than normal times. Folks in Japan are on edge, haunted by the 2011 disaster, a 9.0 quake that unleashed a massive tsunami, killing over, 18,000 and melting down the Fukushima plan. People rushed to higher ground, with one resident in Hokkaido describing the shaking as mild, but everyone bolting downstairs anyway. No major injuries or damage reported so far, though bullet trains stopped, and about 100 homes lost power.

1:03Tremors reached as far as Tokyo, and tsunami alerts lingered in Hokkaido for hours before getting downgraded. Prime Minister Sene Takaiichi echoed the call to stay safe on high ground until all clear, as Japan braces for what could come next in the shaky stretch. That's the story for today. Global news today, driven by AI.