India, Dec. 8 -- An earthquake of magnitude 7.6 struck Japan on Monday evening, triggering a tsunami of up to 50 centimetres in Pacific coast communities, according to the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA). It said that the surges could potentially get higher.

The meteorological agency reported the quake's magnitude as 7.5, from its earlier estimate of 7.6.

The tsunami struck the Hokkaido prefecture town of Urakawa and the Aomori prefecture port of Mutsu Ogawara, JMA said.

Many local media reports said that several people were injured. Public broadcaster NHK reported that several people were injured at a hotel in the Aomori town of Hachinohe.

The earthquake was recorded at a depth of 53.1 km at 14:15 (UTC), as per the United States Ge...