Japanese authorities decided this Monday to cancel the tsunami alert that had been activated hours earlier following a magnitude 7.7 earthquake on the Richter scale registered off the country's east coast, with no victims or material damage reported for now.
The Japan Meteorological Agency has detailed that the tremor occurred around 4:55 PM (local time) off the coast of Sanriku and has indicated that the hypocenter was located about ten kilometers deep.
In a first notice, the agency had indicated that the tsunami alert extended through several areas of eastern and northeastern Japan, with a risk of waves up to three meters on the coast of the prefectures of Hokkaido, Aomori, and Iwate.
Hours later, the agency has canceled this specific alert for said prefectures, although it maintains a warning in effect for these three regions and also for Miyagi and Fukushima, along with an additional alert for a possible 'megathrust earthquake' that could occur as a aftershock of the main earthquake.
Faced with this scenario, the agency has urged residents of seven prefectures to remain prepared for a possible disaster, after officials cited by the Japanese television channel NHK pointed to an increase in the probability of a potentially devastating earthquake.