The 8.9 magnitude quake that hit northeast Japan on Friday set a nuclear plant on fire, and created a 10-meter tsunami that killed at least 40 people.
The monster tsunami seen near Sendai City sent shipping containers, vehicles and debris drifting through the roads wiping everything along its path, said AFP.
The Japan Times said the temblor that hit at 14:46 is one of the strongest ever to hit the archipelago surpassing the Great Kanto Earthquake in Tokyo in 1923 that registered 7.9 and killed over 100,000 people.
The temblor is the fifth-largest seen all over the world since 1900, The Los Angeles Times said.
Buildings in the capital city were seen swayed for several minutes and sent millions to higher areas.
Tsunami alerts had been issued to at least 53 countries as far as the western coast of the US, Colombia and Peru.
According to one of the author's Facebook friends, Lan Cruz who lives in Tokyo, "I was so shocked. The quakes happened one after another. This is terrible. Everything in my room is falling. I am now on the streets."
Another friend in Hokkaido, Jolita Obama Jaimes said, "We are okay here in Sapporo. We are away from the coastal area."
Australia, Indonesia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines and some other countries were placed under tsunami alert.
It was also reported that the Japan waves will be felt in California after 8:00.
Watch the YouTube video above to see the initial extent of the tsunami.
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