56 dead as strong quake, tsunami hit Japan

The dead were reported in northeastern Japan and the Kanto region. More than 100 people were injured and many were missing, including a number of children who were sucked into the sea, the public broadcaster NHK reported.

Six deaths were reported at a welfare facility that collapsed in Minami Soma in Fukushima prefecture, and the Kyodo News agency said eight people were missing in a landslide in Soma, Fukushima prefecture. A tsunami seven metres high hit the city at 3.50 p.m. (0650 GMT), NHK said.

Waves swamped buildings and swept away cars, boats, crops and even buildings. People gathered on the roofs of inundated buildings and houses. Women waved white handkerchiefs from windows, seeking help.

Television footage showed vehicles submerged in Kamaishi, Iwate prefecture, as a 4.2-metre tsunami hit the city's coast and many houses being washed away in Sendai, Miyagi prefecture, by quake-generated waves.

High waves also hit Hiroo on Hokkaido, Japan's northern island.

The agency warned more waves up to 10 metres high would hit the coast of eastern Japan.

The agency issued more tsunami warnings in southern Japan, forecasting waves as high as two metres on the southern island of Kyushu and the southwestern island of Okinawa, 1,600 km southwest of Tokyo. A tsunami three metres high would hit Miura, Kanagawa prefecture, south of Tokyo, the agency said.

Tsunami advisories were issued for wide swathes of the eastern coast and around the Pacific.

The US Geological Survey measured the quake at 8.9 on the Richter scale while Japan's Meteorological Agency recorded it at a magnitude of 8.8.

The quake, which hit at 2.45 p.m. (0545 GMT) at a depth of 24.4 km, shook buildings in Tokyo violently, and some caught fire.