Japan issues major tsunami warning after powerful earthquake

Japan has asked residents along its western coast to evacuate to higher ground after a tsunami warning was triggered following a powerful 7.6 magnitude earthquake.

The earthquake struck the central region at around 4:10pm on the new year with residents in the coastal Noto area in Ishikawa prefecture asked to “evacuate immediately”, national broadcaster NHK said.

NHK said waves as high as 5m had reached Noto.

Authorities also issued tsunami warnings for neighbouring Niigata and Toyama prefectures, warning that waves there could reach 3m.

Public television flashed ‘EVACUATE’ in big letters on TV screens, urging residents to flee to higher ground despite the winter weather.

The country's largest nuclear power operator, Kansai Electric, said there had been “no abnormality” in nuclear plants in the affected area.

South Korea's meteorological agency has warned that tsunami waves up to 0.3m could hit the eastern coast of the country between 6:29pm and 7:17pm local time.

Japan is haunted by the memory of a massive 9.0-magnitude undersea quake off northeastern Japan in March 2011, which triggered a tsunami that left around 18,500 people dead or missing.

The 2011 tsunami also sent three reactors into meltdown at the Fukushima nuclear plant, causing Japan's worst post-war disaster and the most serious nuclear accident since Chernobyl.

In March 2022, a 7.4-magnitude quake off the coast of Fukushima shook large areas of eastern Japan, killing three people.