7.5 magnitude earthquake off Japan, trains stopped: alert on possible mega earthquake

NEW DELHI - The Japan Meteorological Agency issued a tsunami warning in the region after registering a powerful earthquake off the country's northern coast.

The earthquake, whose magnitude was preliminarily estimated at 7.5 on the Richter scale, occurred off Sanriku in northern Japan at 4.53pm local time, at a depth of about 10 kilometres below the sea surface, the agency reported.

The Japanese public broadcaster NHK stated that a tsunami of up to 3 metres could hit the area soon. The most affected prefectures are expected to be Iwate, Aomori both on the island of Honshu and Hokkaido. High-speed trains operating in the Aomori region have been stopped and boats are leaving ports, especially Hachinohe.

It has been 15 years since the 9.0 magnitude earthquake and tsunami of 11 March 2011, which devastated parts of northern Japan, caused over 22,000 deaths and forced almost half a million people to flee their homes, mostly due to tsunami damage.

About 160,000 people have left their homes due to radiation released by the tsunami-stricken Fukushima nuclear power plant. About 26 thousand of them have not yet returned, either because they have settled elsewhere, because their hometowns remain inaccessible or because they still have radiation fears.