Japan’s meteorological agency issued a tsunami advisory Thursday after a 7.1-magnitude earthquake hit the southern island of Kyushu.
Authorities said the quake occurred off the coast of Miyazaki Prefecture at 4:42 p.m. local time (7:42 p.m. GMT), at a depth of about 29 kilometres.
The government issued a tsunami advisory and urged residents to evacuate coastal areas of Kochi and Miyazaki prefectures immediately until it had been lifted. Such announcements are made when the waves are not expected to exceed 1 metre.
The local police chief said it was running an impact assessment for structural damage to buildings however, there appeared to be none so far. The Miyazaki Port had reported a surge of 20 inches, the largest so far.