Residents of coastal areas in the Tohoku region sought refuge in nearby facilities early Thursday after an earthquake off Chile's northern coast on Tuesday night triggered a tsunami alert.

"I'm fed up with tsunami," said Masaki Murakami, a 26-year-old company worker who took shelter with the rest of his four-member family at an evacuation center in Rikuzentakata, Iwate Prefecture.

Murakami, whose home was destroyed by the massive tsunami in 2011, rebuilt his house on the same lot but with elevated foundations.