A powerful offshore earthquake struck north-eastern Japan late at night, triggering tsunami warnings and setting off emergency weather and safety alerts across several coastal regions. The quake, measuring a strong 7.

Japanese weather officials say airborne yellow sand mainly from the desert regions of China and Mongolia could reach southwestern Japanese islands, including Okinawa, and western Japan from Tuesday through Wednesday.

A powerful magnitude-7.6 earthquake struck off Japan’s northeastern coast on Monday, triggering evacuation orders and a tsunami warning for parts of the coastline. CNN’s Hanako Montgomery reports.

As climate change and the resulting extreme weather intensify, interest in weather modification is growing around the world. In Japan, under Goal 8 of the Moonshot Research and Development Program led by the Cabinet Office / JST (Japan Science and Technology Agency),