A small tsunami hit Japan’s northeastern coastline on Wednesday, officials said, after a strong earthquake rocked the region almost exactly a year on from the country’s worst post-war natural disaster.
A 6.9-magtinude quake struck 26.6 kilometres below the seabed off the northern island of Hokkaido in the Pacific at 6:08 pm local time, the U.S. Geological Survey said.
It was followed by a 20 centimetre tsunami which had prompted local authorities to issue an evacuation warning for coastal residents before it hit land.
This was followed by a moderately strong 5.7 earthquake near Tokyo, which left residents on edge.
The waves hit several locations in Hokkaido as well as Aomori prefecture, which was one of the areas in Japan’s northeast devastated by last year’s disaster.
The Japanese meteorological agency had initially said a tsunami could be as high as 50 centimetres, but U.S. monitors said there was no Pacific-wide tsunami threat.
The initial quake was followed by several powerful aftershocks in the same vicinity, including one with a magnitude of 6.1, but there was no tsunami warning.
Almost three hours after the first quake, a 5.7-magnitude shock struck 90 kilometres east of Tokyo, USGS said. Japanese officials said there was no fear of a tsunami “although sea levels may change slightly in a few hours”.
The meteorological agency had also warned the tsunami could reach the Kuril islands, off Hokkaido, which Russia has controlled since Japan’s surrender at the end of World War II.
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