Unclear situation

Tsunami warning after strong earthquake in Japan

Visitors to an amusement park during the earthquake

(Bild: AP)

An earthquake shook eastern Japan on Thursday. It had a magnitude of 7.1, according to the weather authority. There is no information yet about major damage or fatalities.

The public broadcaster NHK initially gave the magnitude of the quake as 6.9. According to the broadcaster, the authorities issued tsunami warnings for several regions on the islands of Kyushu and Shikoku. The tsunami could reach a height of one meter.

According to NHK, the warning was issued for the prefectures of Miyazaki and Kochi. According to the United States Geological Survey, the earthquake occurred less than 32 kilometers off the coast of Miyazaki.

Tsunami waves can roll over several times and rise suddenly. People are advised to avoid the coasts and not to try to observe the situation.

Situation still unclear
The operators of nuclear power plants on Kyushu and Shikoku said they were checking whether they had been damaged. Operations have been running normally so far. NHK reported broken windows at Miyazaki Airport near the epicenter. The police chief of the city of Nichinan in Kyushu said, according to the broadcaster, that apparently no buildings had collapsed in the area.

Japan is located on the Pacific "Ring of Fire", a line of seismic faults that surrounds the Pacific Ocean. The country is one of the most earthquake-prone in the world. More than 240 people died in an earthquake in Japan's Noto region on January 1.