, Dec. 8 -- A powerful earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 7.6 struck northeastern Japan late Monday night, prompting a tsunami warning for wide stretches of the Pacific coastline, according to the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA).

The quake struck at 11:15 p.m. local time at a depth of 50 km and registered upper 6 on Japan's seismic intensity scale of 7 in the hardest-hit areas, the agency said.

Tsunami warnings have been issued for coastal regions of Hokkaido, Aomori and Iwate prefectures, where waves as high as 3 meters are expected. The epicenter was located off the eastern coast of Aomori at 41.0 degrees north latitude and 142.3 degrees east longitude.

A tsunami advisory was also issued for Miyagi and Fukushima prefectures...