Hachinohe City Government (Aomori Prefecture)

Built World

Frontline municipality hit by strongest shaking in the 2025 Sanriku earthquake

On December 8, 2025, a magnitude 7.6 offshore earthquake struck at 23:15 JST off the coast of Aomori Prefecture in Japan’s Sanriku region, shaking Hachinohe at a maximum ‘upper 6’ on Japan’s intensity scale and triggering tsunami warnings forecasting waves up to three meters for parts of Hokkaido, Aomori, and Iwate. Japan’s Meteorological Agency (JMA) and local authorities ordered or urged tens of thousands of coastal residents to evacuate; recorded tsunami heights ultimately stayed in the 20–70 cm range, and by the early hours of December 9 the initial warnings were downgraded to advisories, with at least 23 injuries reported but no deaths or large-scale structural collapse.

Updated Dec 11, 2025