Le Japon émet une alerte au tsunami après un séisme de magnitude 6,7
Japan's Meteorological Agency (JMA) issued a tsunami warning on Sunday after a magnitude 6.7 earthquake struck off the northeast coast of the country.
The earthquake occurred at 17:03 (08:03 GMT) off the coast of Iwate Prefecture, with a risk of tsunami waves up to one meter high, according to the same source.
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) assessed the quake at 6.8 on the Richter scale.
"A tsunami warning has been issued" for the Iwate coastline, the JMA announced in a bulletin, warning that waves could reach the shore at any time.
Public broadcaster NHK reported tsunami waves offshore and urged people to move away from the beaches, although live television footage at this stage shows a calm sea.
The region is still traumatized by the terrible magnitude 9.0 earthquake of 2011, which triggered a tsunami responsible for some 18,500 deaths or missing persons.
The disaster also led to the meltdown of three of the reactors at the Fukushima nuclear power plant, the worst disaster of its kind since Chernobyl.
Japan is located at the junction of four tectonic plates, on the so-called "Ring of Fire" in the Pacific. The country has one of the highest levels of seismic activity in the world.
The archipelago of 125 million inhabitants records approximately 1,500 earthquakes per year.
Most are weak, although the damage can vary depending on their location and depth.
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