The Japan Meteorological Agency reported earthquakes off Ishikawa and neighboring prefectures, with one having a preliminary magnitude of 7.6.
Japanese public broadcaster NHK TV warned that waves could reach heights of 5 meters and urged residents to flee as quickly as possible to higher ground or to the top of a nearby building.
As an immediate consequence of these earthquakes, highways were closed near the epicenter and some 33,500 homes were deprived of electricity.
A tsunami around 3 meters high is expected to hit Niigata and other prefectures on Japan’s west coast. Smaller tsunami waves have already been confirmed to have reached the coastline, according to NHK.
The area includes a nuclear power plant. Tokyo Electric Power Co., the operator, said it was checking for problems but no irregularities were immediately reported.
Japan is a country extremely prone to earthquakes. In March 2011, a major earthquake and tsunami caused a disaster at the Fukushima power plant.
