Powerful 7.5-Magnitude Earthquake Strikes off Japan, Tsunami Alert Issued

A powerful earthquake struck off the northern Japanese coast, and the Japan Meteorological Agency issued a tsunami alert in the region.

The quake registering a preliminary magnitude of 7.5 occurred off the coast of Sanriku in northern Japan at around 4:53 p.m., at a depth of about 6 miles below the sea surface, the agency said.

A tsunami of about 2.6 feet was detected at the Kuji port in the Iwate prefecture, and a smaller tsunami of  1.3 feet was recorded at another port in the prefecture, the agency said.

The agency urged residents in the regin to immediately stay away from the coast or along rivers and take shelter on higher ground. It also cautioned people in the area against possible aftershocks for about a week.

The Iwate prefecture issued non-binding evacuation advisories to residents in 11 towns.

A tsunami of up to 10 feet could hit the area, the agency said. In addition to the tsunami alert in Iwate and Aomori to the north and southeastern Hokkaido, the agency also issued a milder tsunami advisory for the coasts of Miyagi and Fukushima, south of the epicenter.

Another 7.5 magnitude quake in December left dozens injured.

It's 15 years since a magnitude 9.0 earthquake and tsunami on March 11, 2011, ravaged parts of northern Japan, caused more than 22,000 deaths and forced nearly half a million people to flee their homes, most of them due to tsunami damage.

Some 160,000 people fled their homes in Fukushima because of the radiation spewed from the tsunami-hit Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. About 26,000 of them haven’t returned because they resettled elsewhere, their hometowns remain off-limits or they have lingering concerns about radiation.