TOKYO, April 3 — Japan issued an evacuation advisory for the coastal areas near the southern prefecture of Okinawa after a powerful earthquake triggered a tsunami warning early this morning.
A tsunami of up to 3 metres was expected to reach Japan's southwestern coast around 10 am local time, according to the Japan Meteorological Agency. The warning came after an earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 7.5 struck in the ocean near Taiwan.
Earthquakes are common in Japan, one of the world's most seismically active areas. Japan accounts for about one-fifth of the world's earthquakes of magnitude 6 or greater.
Meanwhile in Taiwan, an earthquake with a magnitude of 7.2 has hit Taipei, its capital, the Taiwan central weather administration said.
The strong quake knocked out power in several parts of the city, according to a Reuters witness.
Taiwan television stations showed footage of some collapsed buildings in the eastern county of Hualien, near the quake's epicentre, and media reported some people were trapped.
Taiwan's official central news agency said the quake was the biggest to hit the island since 1999 when a 7.6 magnitude tremor killed around 2,400 people and destroyed or damaged 50,000 buildings in one of Taiwan's worst-recorded quakes.
The quake was also felt in Shanghai, Fuzhou, Xiamen, Quanzhou and Ningde in China.
— Reuters
