Tsunami warning after 7.3 earthquake rocks Japan

16 March 2022, 14:58 | Updated: 16 March 2022, 16:28

A tsunami advisory has been issued after a 7.3 magnitude earthquake hit the eastern coast of Japan.

An eyewitnesses in the Tohoku region, YouTuber Chris Broad, said he thought his building was "coming down" and a second earthquake "knocked half the apartment over".

More than two million households were without power.

Japan's weather agency said the tsunami waves have already reached the Miyagi and Fukushima prefectures, the NHK news agency reports, while waves of up to a metre high were projected.

The Fukushima coast in the region home to the Fukushima nuclear plant disaster in 2011. Officials said they were due to inspect the condition of the reactors there but no damage has been reported there.

Fumio Kishida, the prime minister of Japan, said the damage to his country was being assessed.

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Power outages have been reported, including in Tokyo, while officials asked for people to avoid the ocean or mouths of rivers.

The US Geological Survey said the earthquake had a shake intensity of seven, or "very strong".

Social media videos showed buildings shaking as people said entire buildings were swaying.