According to Lam Thi Thanh Huong, an envoy at the Vietnamese Embassy in Japan, the embassy has contacted Vietnamese associations based in areas hit by the earthquake in an effort to get updates on the situation regarding the Vietnamese community there.

Moving forward, the embassy will stay in touch with those associations and other relevant Japanese agencies in order to gather more information and take citizen protection measures when necessary, Huong said.

The quake itself struck at around 11:07 p.m., according to the Japan Meteorological Agency, and was felt as far away as Tokyo.

The epicentre was off the coast of Fukushima, approximately 220 kilometres, equivalent to 135 miles, north of Tokyo. In addition, its focus was estimated to be at a depth of roughly 55 kilometres.

Since the incident no tsunami warning has been issued, although the earthquake was the strongest to hit the region since April 7, 2011, according to the agency.