BREAKING: Earthquake of magnitude 7.6 strikes off Honshu island, Japan

LONDON (REUTERS) - A 7.6 magnitude earthquake struck 231 miles east of the Japanese island of Honshu on Saturday, the U.S. Geological Survey reported.

A US Pacific tsunami warning centre said there was no destructive widespread tsunami threat following the quake. Eastern Japan, a seismically active region, was struck by a 6.5 magnitude earthquake last month, causing tremors felt 600km away in Tokyo.

There were no immediate reports of damage on land.

More than 18,000 people died when a 9.0 magnitude sub-sea earthquake sent a towering tsunami barrelling into Japan's north-east coast in March 2011 in the country's worst post-World War II disaster.

Cooling systems at the Fukushima nuclear plant were knocked out, sending reactors into meltdown and forcing tens of thousands of people to flee.

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