The epicenter of the quake, which hit at 2138 GMT Monday, was about 350 kilometers (215 miles) east of Sendai on the Japanese island of Honshu, the USGS said.

It orginated about 24 kilometers (15 miles) under the ocean surface, it added.

The Hawaii-based Pacific Tsunami Warning Center reported the power of the quake at 7.3 on the open-ended Richter scale. It gave no immediate tsunami warning.

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