India, July 5 -- Tokara Islands in Japan's Kagoshima prefecture have witnessed more than 1000 tremors in the past two weeks, with the earthquake on Thursday (July 3) being so strong that people faced difficulty standing.

Following the repeated quakes, the Japanese government has warned the residents of the remote islands about the possibility of more such tremors in the waters southwest of the islands.

This came after authorities Friday evacuated residents from the islands located close to the epicentre of a 5.5 magnitude earthquake, near the tip of the southernmost main island, Kyushu.

Around 700 people reside on seven of the 12 islands, with there being no hospitals nearby in some of them.

The area has witnessed regular earthquakes ...