A tsunami warning was issued for parts of northeast and northern Japan on Monday after a magnitude-7.5 earthquake struck off the Sanriku Coast, sending residents to higher ground and boats out to sea as memories of the 2011 disaster resurfaced.

Live television footage showed fishing boats and coastal vessels leaving ports along Japan’s northeast coast to avoid incoming waves, while broadcasters urged people in low-lying areas to evacuate immediately to safer ground.

In Hokkaido, Makoto Watanabe, a professor of communications and media at Hokkaido Bunkyo University, said the tremor brought back memories of the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami.

“I was teaching a class when it happened and it really shook the building,” he said. “And the shaking went on for what seemed an unusually long time. It was not as bad as 2011, but it was probably the closest to that I’ve experienced.”

He said people in coastal areas appeared to have moved quickly to evacuation sites, though the rush had also caused heavy traffic in some places. In Tomakomai, one designated evacuation park became so congested that police were redirecting drivers to another site.

Japan’s Meteorological Agency (JMA) issued tsunami warnings for Hokkaido, Aomori and Iwate prefectures, with waves of up to three metres (10 feet) expected after the quake struck at 4.53pm.