A magnitude 7.1 earthquake struck off the east coast of Japan, at just after 1:10 p.m. Eastern Time on Friday, and the quake triggering a tsunami advisory along the entire northeast coast of Japan's main island of Honshu.

The earthquake was centred over 300 kilometres east of Japan's main island of Honshu, and was located at a depth of about 10 kilometres down. It was originally reported as magnitude 7.3, but was downgraded to 7.1 as more information and reports came in. Aftershocks from this earthquake are expected, and two significant ones — magnitude 5.1 and 4.8 — have been detected so far.

According to the US Geological Survey, it was only lightly felt in most areas on land, even as far away as Tokyo. However, there have been some reports of stronger shaking to the north and northeast of Tokyo. So far there have been no reports of damages due to the quake.

Right after the earthquake was detected, the Japan Meteorological Agency issued an advisory that a 1 metre tsunami was headed for Fukushima Prefecture, and the warning was quickly expanded to include regions up and down the coastline. These regions of the country were ones that that suffered the worst effects of the tsunami in March 2011.

The tsunami advisories were lifted as of just after 3 p.m. Eastern Time, just two hours after the earthquake hit. Regions that spotted the tsunami wave reported it as between 20 and 40 centimetres high. By comparison, the tsunami from March 2011 reached over 9 metres high in some places.

There was no tsunami threat to North America from this earthquake, according to the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center.

[ More Geekquinox: Canadian Arctic temperatures highest in at least 44,000 years ]

The earthquake struck in roughly the same area as the devastating 2011 quake, bringing a risk that more damage could be caused to the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. However, according to Reuters reporter Mari Saito, although workers were told to evacuate to higher ground, no irregularities were reported at either of the Fukushima Daiichi or Daini plants.

(Image courtesy: Google Public Alerts)

Geek out with the latest in science and weather.

Follow @ygeekquinox on Twitter!