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Japan was plunged into fresh panic today as a 6.1 magnitude tremor hit the northern coast - the third major earthquake within a week.

The tremors struck near the northern island on Honshu around 60 miles southeast on Sendai.

To the dismay of rattled survivors, the latest quake happened close to the site of the Fukushima nuclear disaster - which saw 15,000 killed in March 2011.

No tsunami warnings have been issued on this occasion.

It comes after at least 48 people were killed when two cataclysmic earthquakes ripped through the island of Kyushu - leaving houses crumbled and survivors in shock.

(Image: http://earthquaketrack.com/)

The first quake hit late last Thursday and the largest, at magnitude 7.3, some 27 hours later.

"I keep thinking the earthquakes will stop, but they just go on and on," said one woman at an evacuation centre in Mashiki, one of the worst-hit areas. It's really scary."

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Of more than 680 aftershocks hitting Kyushu island since April 14, more than 89 have registered at magnitude four or more on Japan's intensity scale, strong enough to shake buildings.

(Image: Getty)

On Kyushu, nearly 100,000 people were in evacuation centres, some huddling in blankets outside as night temperatures plunged to near freezing.

Heavy rain is expected over the area, raising fear that slopes weakened by the quakes could collapse.

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Authorities have begun condemning buildings and other structures deemed unsafe.

Hundreds, possibly thousands, of buildings collapsed, many brought down by their heavy roofs of traditional tiles.

Most of those who were killed had returned to their homes after the first quake.