Tokyo: A series of strong earthquakes with major ones measured at up to 7.6 magnitude struck the central Japanese prefecture of Ishikawa on Monday, with tsunami warnings issued, according to the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA).
The major quake hitting Ishikawa, a coastal prefecture on the Island of Honshu, registered an intensity of 7 on the Japanese seismic intensity scale which peaks at 7, with temblors felt in multiple regions of the Asian country, according to the weather agency, Xinhua news agency reported.
The weather agency said the latest major temblor occurred at 4:10 p.m. local time (0710 GMT) at a shallow depth.
The temblor’s epicenter was located in Ishikawa’s Noto region, at Wajima east-northeast 30 km at 37.5 degrees north latitude and 137.2 degrees east longitude.
A major tsunami warning has been issued by the JMA for the Noto region, urging people to evacuate immediately, following tsunami warnings for Niigata, Toyama, and Ishikawa prefectures of the Japan Sea side of the country.
Japanese public broadcaster NHK TV warned torrents of water could reach as high as 5 meters (16.5 feet) and urged people to flee to high land or the top of a nearby building as quickly as possible, The Associated Press reported.
