A powerful 7.6 magnitude earthquake struck off the northeastern coast of Japan late Monday night, triggering immediate tsunami warnings for local prefectures and prompting urgent alerts from oceanographers regarding potential ripple effects across the wider Pacific Rim.
The tremor, which originated at a depth of 50 kilometres (31 miles) beneath the Pacific Ocean off Aomori Prefecture, struck at 23:15 JST (14:15 GMT), violently shaking a region still scarred by the memories of the 2011 disasters.
