A major earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 7.4 has hit off the north-eastern coast of Japan on Monday afternoon.
This was confirmed by the Japan Meteorological Agency, who said that the quake measured an 'upper 5' on Japan's seismic scale, making it strong enough to make it difficult for people to move around. It can also cause unreinforced concrete-block walls to collapse.
The JMA have warned of a tsunami has high as 3 metres (9.84 ft) in Iwate, Aomori and Hokkaido prefecturs. They also revealed that the tremor had an epicentre in the Pacific Ocean and was 10 km deep.
It has also been reported that the Aomori bullet train has halted operations following this earthquake.
