Japan earthquake: A powerful earthquake of 7.5 magnitude hit central Japan on Monday, prompting a tsunami warning from a broad swath of the country’s northwestern coast. The tsunami warning urged people to quickly leave coastal areas, with waves of up to 5 meters predicted, Japan Times reported citing NHK. The quake, which struck on New Year’s Day, was felt in Tokyo and across the Kanto area.

Tsunami warnings were also issued for Niigata, Toyama, Yamagata, Fukui and Hyogo prefectures, also along the Japan Sea Coast. Reports of damage were not immediately available.

Japan, which sits on the so-called Pacific “Ring of Fire,” is one of the most quake-prone countries in the world. A magnitude 9.0 quake on March 11, 2011, off Japan’s northeastern coast, triggered a massive tsunami, killed more than 18,000 and triggered a nuclear disaster.

When over 10 lakh people killed in deadly earthquake 

In September last year, the country marked the centennial of the real-life 1923 Great Kanto Quake that killed more than 1,00,000 people. The 7.9-magnitude earthquake that struck the Sagamihara area southwest of Tokyo on September 1, 1923, just before noon triggered a widespread inferno in the region, causing most of the victims to perish in the fire. 

The blaze destroyed nearly 3,00,000 Japanese paper-and-wood homes as the country suffered major social and economic damage just as it was seeking to modernize. 

In the aftermath, thousands of ethnic Koreans were killed as police and others responded to baseless rumours that Koreans were poisoning wells. The rampage has never fully been acknowledged by the government.

(With inputs from agency)

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