Last Updated on December 11, 2025 by Daily News Staff

🇯🇵 Japan Earthquake Update — What You Need to Know (December 2025)

On December 8, 2025, a powerful earthquake — measured at magnitude 7.5 (7.6 by the U.S. Geological Survey) — struck offshore of Aomori Prefecture in northern Japan around 11:15 p.m. JST. The quake was deep enough (about 44 km) to be felt over a wide area, with intense shaking registering across northern Honshu and parts of Hokkaido. 

🌊 Immediate Impact — Tsunami & Injuries

Tsunami Warnings were promptly issued along the Pacific coasts of Hokkaido, Aomori and Iwate. Authorities initially feared waves up to ~3 meters high, prompting evacuations.  In the end, only small tsunami waves — up to about 70 cm — were observed, and all warnings were lifted by early Tuesday morning.  At least 50 plus people have been injured, mostly lightly, due to falling objects and minor structural impacts from the shaking. 

Across the affected prefectures, emergency crews continue damage assessments and are checking roads, buildings, utilities and other infrastructure for safety concerns. Some power outages and transport disruptions (train suspensions) were reported in the aftermath. 

🧠 Rare “Megaquake Advisory” Issued

Japan’s meteorological authority, the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA), has issued a megaquake advisory following the M 7.5 quake — a rare alert indicating elevated seismic risk. This advisory:

Does not predict when (or if) a larger earthquake will occur. Signals that the probability of a more powerful quake (M 8.0+) has increased temporarily for the next several days or week. Specifically, a formerly tiny ~0.1% weekly chance has risen to roughly ~1 %.  Applies along a long stretch of Japan’s Pacific coast — from Chiba Prefecture in the south up through Hokkaido in the north — where the Pacific tectonic plate is actively subducting beneath Japan. 

Officials emphasize that this is an advisory, not a prediction, and it’s issued to encourage preparedness: securing furniture, reviewing evacuation plans, and keeping emergency kits ready. 

🌏 Aftershocks and Continued Seismic Activity

Even after the main quake, strong aftershocks have been recorded in the region — including quakes in the magnitude 5–6 range. This ongoing activity is consistent with a typical aftershock sequence but reinforces the public safety message to stay alert. 

Later smaller tremors — including a reported M 6.0 event — have been felt near Aomori and Hokkaido, though none have triggered additional tsunami warnings. 

🛡 Government Response & Public Safety

The Japanese government has mobilized an emergency task force to:

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Assess damage and coordinate response efforts across affected regions.  Monitor infrastructure — including roads, utilities, and nuclear facilities — for any damage or safety issues.  Keep the public informed and ready for possible aftershocks or other quakes. 

Schools, businesses and local municipalities continue to evaluate safety conditions and may adjust operations accordingly.

📌 What This Means for Residents & Visitors

✔ Immediate tsunami danger has passed, but vigilance is still needed due to aftershocks. 

✔ Preparedness is crucial, especially in coastal and northern regions that felt the quake strongest. 

✔ If you’re in Japan or planning travel, follow JMA updates and local government advisories for current regional guidance. 

🧭 In Summary

Japan is dealing with the impacts of a major offshore earthquake that shook the northern Pacific coast and prompted widespread alerts. Although immediate tsunami threats were limited and damage appears relatively light so far, a rare megaquake advisory remains in effect — not as a definitive forecast, but as a cautionary alert to stay prepared in the coming days.

Despite this elevated alert level, experts stress that while seismic risk is higher than normal, a massive quake is not imminent and the advisory’s purpose is to keep people ready rather than alarmed. 

STM Daily News is a vibrant news blog dedicated to sharing the brighter side of human experiences. Emphasizing positive, uplifting stories, the site focuses on delivering inspiring, informative, and well-researched content. With a commitment to accurate, fair, and responsible journalism, STM Daily News aims to foster a community of readers passionate about positive change and engaged in meaningful conversations. Join the movement and explore stories that celebrate the positive impacts shaping our world.

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How China cleaned up its air pollution – and what that meant for the climate

Gemma Ware, The Conversation

Delhi: 442. Lahore: 334. Beijing: 16. These are the levels of PM 2.5, one of the principle measures for air pollution, on November 19. As Pakistanis and Indians struggle with hazardous air quality, in Beijing – a city once notorious for its smog – the air quality is currently rated as good. Ahead of the 2008 Beijing Olympics, the Chinese government was so concerned about pollution that it introduced temporary restrictions on cars, shut down factories and stopped work on some construction sites. The measures worked and one study later found that levels of air pollution were down 30% during the period when the temporary Olympic restrictions were in place. It would take a few more years before the Chinese government implemented a clean air action plan in 2013. Since then, China has achieved a dramatic improvement in its air quality. In this episode of The Conversation Weekly podcast, we speak to Laura Wilcox, a professor at the National Centre for Atmospheric Science at the University of Reading in the UK, to understand how China managed to clean up its air pollution. But Wilcox’s recent research uncovered some unintended consequences from this cleaner air for the global climate: the pollution was actually helping to cool the atmosphere and by taking it away, it may have accelerated global warming. Wilcox explains:

 What we’re seeing is a removing of cooling that’s revealing warming that’s already there. So the air pollution isn’t the cause of the warming. It’s just letting us see stuff that we’ve already done.

Listen to the interview on The Conversation Weekly podcast. You can also read an article by Laura Wilcox and her colleague Bjørn H. Samset about their recent research on The Conversation. This episode of The Conversation Weekly was written and produced by Mend Mariwany, Gemma Ware and Katie Flood. Mixing by Michelle Macklem and theme music by Neeta Sarl. Newsclips in this episode from Voice of America, CBC, AP Archive, ABC (News) Australia, WFLA NBC Channel 8 and PBS. Listen to The Conversation Weekly via any of the apps listed above, download it directly via our RSS feed or find out how else to listen here. A transcript of this episode is available via the Apple Podcasts or Spotify apps. Gemma Ware, Host, The Conversation Weekly Podcast, The Conversation This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

Dive into “The Knowledge,” where curiosity meets clarity. This playlist, in collaboration with STMDailyNews.com, is designed for viewers who value historical accuracy and insightful learning. Our short videos, ranging from 30 seconds to a minute and a half, make complex subjects easy to grasp in no time. Covering everything from historical events to contemporary processes and entertainment, “The Knowledge” bridges the past with the present. In a world where information is abundant yet often misused, our series aims to guide you through the noise, preserving vital knowledge and truths that shape our lives today. Perfect for curious minds eager to discover the ‘why’ and ‘how’ of everything around us. Subscribe and join in as we explore the facts that matter.  https://stmdailynews.com/the-knowledge/

The Hong Kong high-rise fire shows how difficult it is to evacuate in an emergency

Milad Haghani, The University of Melbourne; Erica Kuligowski, RMIT University, and Ruggiero Lovreglio, Te Kunenga ki Pūrehuroa – Massey University The Hong Kong high-rise fire, which spread across multiple buildings in a large residential complex, has killed dozens, with hundreds reported missing. The confirmed death toll is now 44, with close to 300 people still unaccounted for and dozens in hospital with serious injuries. This makes it one of Hong Kong’s deadliest building fires in living memory, and already the worst since the Garley Building fire in 1996. Although more than 900 people have been reportedly evacuated from the Wang Fuk Court, it’s not clear how many residents remain trapped. This catastrophic fire – which is thought to have spread from building to building via burning bamboo scaffolding and fanned by strong winds – highlights how difficult it is to evacuate high-rise buildings in an emergency.

When the stakes are highest

Evacuations of high-rises don’t happen every day, but occur often enough. And when they do, the consequences are almost always severe. The stakes are highest in the buildings that are full at predictable times: residential towers at night, office towers in the day. We’ve seen this in the biggest modern examples, from the World Trade Center in the United States to Grenfell Tower in the United Kingdom. The patterns repeat: once a fire takes hold, getting thousands of people safely down dozens of storeys becomes a race against time. But what actually makes evacuating a high-rise building so challenging? It isn’t just a matter of “getting people out”. It’s a collision between the physical limits of the building and the realities of human behaviour under stress.

It’s a long way down to safety

The biggest barrier is simply vertical distance. Stairwells are the only reliable escape route in most buildings. Stair descent in real evacuations is far slower than most people expect. Under controlled or drill conditions people move down at around 0.4–0.7 metres per second. But in an actual emergency, especially in high-rise fires, this can drop sharply. During 9/11, documented speeds at which survivors went down stairs were often slower than 0.3 m/s. These slow-downs accumulate dramatically over long vertical distances. Fatigue is a major factor. Prolonged walking significantly reduces the speed of descent. Surveys conducted after incidents confirm that a large majority of high-rise evacuees stop at least once. During the 2010 fire of a high-rise in Shanghai, nearly half of older survivors reported slowing down significantly. Long stairwells, landings, and the geometry of high-rise stairs all contribute to congestion, especially when flows from multiple floors merge into a single shaft. Slower movers include older adults, people with physical or mobility issues and groups evacuating together. These reduce the overall pace of descent compared with the speeds typically assumed for able-bodied individuals. This can create bottlenecks. Slow movers are especially relevant in residential buildings, where diverse occupants mean movement speeds vary widely. Visibility matters too. Experimental studies show that reduced lighting significantly slows down people going down stairs. This suggests that when smoke reduces visibility in real events, movement can slow even further as people hesitate, misjudge steps, or adjust their speed.

Human behaviour can lead to delays

Human behaviour is one of the biggest sources of delay in high-rise evacuations. People rarely act immediately when an alarm sounds. They pause, look for confirmation, check conditions, gather belongings, or coordinate with family members. These early minutes are consistently some of the costliest when evacuating from tall buildings. Studies of the World Trade Center evacuations show the more cues people saw – smoke, shaking, noise – the more they sought extra information before moving. That search for meaning adds delay. People talk to colleagues, look outside windows, phone family, or wait for an announcement. Ambiguous cues slow them even further. In residential towers, families, neighbours and friend-groups naturally try to evacuate together. Groups tend to form wider steps, or group together in shapes that reduce overall flow. But our research shows when a group moves in a “snake” formation – one behind the other – they travel faster, occupy less space, and allow others to pass more easily. These patterns matter in high-rise housing, where varied household types and mixed abilities make moving in groups the norm.

Why stairs aren’t enough

As high-rises grow taller and populations age, the old assumption that “everyone can take the stairs” simply no longer holds. A full building evacuation can take too long, and for many residents (older adults, people with mobility limitations, families evacuating together) long stair descents are sometimes impossible. This is why many countries have turned to refuge floors: fire- and smoke-protected levels built into towers as safe staging points. These can reduce bottlenecks and prevent long queues. They give people somewhere safe to rest, transfer across to a clearer stair, or wait for firefighters. Essentially, they make vertical movement more manageable in buildings where continuous descent isn’t realistic. Alongside them are evacuation elevators. These are lifts engineered to operate during a fire with pressurised shafts, protected lobbies and backup power. The most efficient evacuations use a mix of stairs and elevators, with ratios adjusted to the building height, density and demographics. The lesson is clear: high-rise evacuation cannot rely on one tool. Stairs, refuge floors and protected elevators should all be made part of ensuring vertical living is safer. Milad Haghani, Associate Professor and Principal Fellow in Urban Risk and Resilience, The University of Melbourne; Erica Kuligowski, Principal Research Fellow, School of Engineering, RMIT University, and Ruggiero Lovreglio, Professor in Digital Construction and Fire Engineering, Te Kunenga ki Pūrehuroa – Massey University This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

STM Daily News is a vibrant news blog dedicated to sharing the brighter side of human experiences. Emphasizing positive, uplifting stories, the site focuses on delivering inspiring, informative, and well-researched content. With a commitment to accurate, fair, and responsible journalism, STM Daily News aims to foster a community of readers passionate about positive change and engaged in meaningful conversations. Join the movement and explore stories that celebrate the positive impacts shaping our world.

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