Japan braces for tsunami after huge 6.9 earthquake as 'stay away' warning issued

Japan has bit hit by a huge magnitude 6.9 earthquake. The country has now been warned a tsunami may be set to follow, according to the Japan Meteorological Agency.

At around 9.19pm an earthquake occurred with its epicentre in the Hyuga-Nada Sea, a region in the Pacific Ocean of the south coast of Japan. The magnitude of the earthquake is estimated to be around 6.5, with a maximum seismic intensity of around 5+.

Local residents received the following warning: "This is an emergency earthquake alert. There is only a short time left before the strong shaking hits. Stay safe and check out the timeline. Be careful of things falling from above or collapsing. Please wait until the shaking stops before putting out any fires."

An X user who experienced the earthquake described feeling 'a slow horizontal shake".

The depth of the epicentre was approximately 30km, according to NERV Disaster Prevention, a disaster information distribution system designed to deliver real-time alerts for earthquakes and tsunamis.

The extent of damage is not immediately clear.

Japan is frequently hit by earthquakes because of its location along the "Ring of Fire", an arc of volcanoes and fault lines in the Pacific Basin.

The X user wrote: 'It was shaking. At first it was a slow horizontal shake. I feel like there are more earthquakes happening in the Hyuga Sea recently...'

The Japan Meteorological Agency has launched an investigation into the relationship between this earthquake and a similar earthquake recorded in the Nankai Trough, a region of the Pacific Ocean off the coast of the island of Honshu.

The 7.1 magnitude earthquake occurred near Miyazaki, Japan, on August 8 last year, and according to the United States Geological Survey was felt by around 11.2 million people in the country. A follow-up tremor of 4.8 magnitude was also felt about an hour later.