Magnitude 7.5 quake in northern Japan injures 23 people and triggers a tsunami

TOKYO (AP) — A powerful 7.5-magnitude earthquake struck off northern Japan late Monday, injuring more than 20 people and triggering a tsunami of up to 70 centimeters (28 inches) in Pacific coast communities, officials said.

The Japanese government was still assessing damages from the tsunami and late-evening quake, which struck at about 11:15 p.m. (1415 GMT) in the Pacific Ocean around 80 kilometers (50 miles) off the coast of Aomori, the northernmost prefecture of Japan’s main Honshu island.

“I’ve never experienced such a big shaking,” convenience store owner Nobuo Yamada told the public broadcaster NHK in the Aomori prefecture town of Hachinohe, adding that “luckily” power lines were still operating in his area.

A tsunami of 70 centimeters was measured in Kuji port in Iwate prefecture