Magnitude 7.2 earthquake jolts Japan's Iwate coast; no tsunami risk, no injuries reported

A magnitude 7.2 earthquake struck off the eastern coast of Iwate in Japan's northeastern region on Thursday morning, shaking communities during the rush hour and mildly rattling Tokyo, but the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) moved quickly to rule out any tsunami risk. No immediate reports of injuries or damage emerged, according to top government spokesperson Minoru Kihara.

The JMA initially reported the quake at 6.9 before upgrading the magnitude to 7.2. The US Geological Survey recorded a reading of 6.9. The quake occurred at a depth of approximately 50 kilometres.

The area has been a recurring hotspot for seismic activity in recent months, including an earthquake that triggered a weeklong mega-quake caution advisory in December.

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On the ground

Journalists from NHK public television reporting from heavily affected towns, including Sendai and Morioka, described feeling shaking for a couple of minutes but saw no structural damage. Footage showed commuters moving as normal.

In the town of Hashikami in Aomori prefecture, primary school principal Tomoko Nagane told NHK she was driving when the quake alert sounded. "I felt moderate sideways shaking," she said, adding that children already at the school were safe, though some were crying in fear. Classes were cancelled for the day, and all children were sent home safely.

Transport disruptions

East Japan Railway Co., which operates trains across northeastern Japan, suspended some bullet trains and local lines for safety checks following the earthquake.

Nuclear facilities unaffected

Kihara confirmed that nuclear power plants and facilities, including the Fukushima Daiichi plant damaged by the devastating 2011 earthquake and tsunami, and the spent fuel reprocessing plant in Aomori, reported no abnormalities as a result of Thursday's quake.

Government response

Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, speaking to reporters in Tokyo, said her government's emergency team was "putting people's lives first" while gathering information and preparing for relief operations if needed. She urged residents in affected areas to remain cautious about possible aftershocks.

Japan sits on the Pacific Ring of Fire and is one of the most seismically active countries in the world, making earthquakes of this nature a recurring reality for its population.

Venezuela earthquake

Venezuela was struck by two powerful earthquakes in quick succession on Wednesday evening, the strongest to hit the country in more than a century. Within the space of sixty seconds, two seismic events shook the nation's northern coastline and sent tremors rippling through Caracas, where buildings crumbled, walls gave way and thousands of people rushed to the streets.

The first quake, registering 7.1 on the Richter scale, struck near Morón, a coastal community roughly 168 kilometres west of Caracas, at a depth of 13 kilometres. Before the shaking had fully subsided, a second, more powerful tremor of 7.5 magnitude hit approximately 16 kilometres southwest of the same location, at a depth of 10 kilometres, according to the US Geological Survey.