TOKYO: A major earthquake rocked Japan’s northern coast on Monday, with the country’s meteorological agency recording several tsunami waves and local media reporting injuries.
The United States Geological Survey said the magnitude 7.6 quake struck at 1415 GMT off Misawa on Japan’s Pacific coast, at a depth of 53 kilometres (33 miles).
The Japan Meteorological Agency issued a tsunami warning, with one wave hitting a port in the northern region of Aomori, where Misawa is located, at 11:43 pm (1443 GMT).
Several more waves reached the coast, measuring up to 50 centimetres (20 inches), the agency said.
Public broadcaster NHK cited a hotel employee in the city of Hachinohe in Aomori as saying there had been some injuries as a result of the quake.
Live footage showed shattered glass fragments scattered across roads.
Hachinohe residents fled their homes to seek shelter in the city hall, NHK said.
The quake was also felt in the northern hub of Sapporo, where alarms rang on smartphones to alert residents.
A reporter for NHK in Hokkaido described a horizontal shaking of around 30 seconds that made him unable to keep standing as the earthquake struck.
The meteorological agency earlier warned a tsunami of up to three metres (10 feet) was expected to hit Japan’s Pacific coast.
Top government spokesman Minoru Kihara urged residents to stay in a safe place until the warning had been lifted.
“Even after an initial wave, a second or third wave of an even greater height can arrive,” he told reporters.
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