Strong earthquake strikes northeastern Japan, tsunami warning issued

A powerful earthquake measuring 7.4 magnitude has struck off the northeastern coast of Japan, prompting a tsunami warning, authorities say.

According to the Japan Meteorological Agency, the quake’s epicentre was located in the Pacific Ocean at a depth of around 10 kilometres.

Tsunami warnings of up to three metres have been issued for Iwate Prefecture, Aomori Prefecture and Hokkaido.

The earthquake was classified as “upper 5” on Japan’s seismic intensity scale, a level at which people may find it difficult to move and damage to buildings can occur, including the collapse of unreinforced concrete walls.

There have been no immediate reports of casualties or damage.