Pacific quake off Japan islands sparks tsunami alert

A tsunami alert has been issued after a 7.4-magnitude earthquake in the Pacific Ocean off southern Japan, the US Geological Survey (USGS) says.

The epicentre of the earthquake was 155km (95 miles) off the Bonin Islands, some 1,000km south-east of Tokyo, the USGS said.

It struck at a depth of nearly 15km, the agency added.

Japan is often hit by earthquakes. In 1995, a magnitude-7.2 quake in the port city of Kobe killed 6,400 people.