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Earthquake magnitude 7.1 occurred in southwestern Japan on Thursday, causing the country’s Meteorological Agency (JMA) activate a tsunami warning up to one meter high on the Pacific coast of the region.

An earthquake has occurred at 16:43 local time at a depth of 30 kilometers off the coast of Miyazaki Prefecture, on the southern island of Kyushu, the JMA reported.

The earthquake, whose magnitude was revised from a preliminary 6.9. reached a lower intensity of 6 on the 7-level Japanese seismic scale in the eastern half of Miyazaki. which measures surface disturbances and their destructive potential, as well as lower intensity 5 in the rest of the province and in the east of neighboring Kagoshima.

As a result of the earthquake, the JMA issued a tsunami warning, which was estimated to reach a meter in height. on the coasts of Miyazaki, Kagoshima and Kochi, as well as the area of ​​the Tanegashima and Yakushima islands, near the epicenter, and up to 0.2 meters in the Okinawa archipelago or Ogasawara Islands, about a thousand kilometers south of Tokyo, in the Pacific Ocean.

Meteorologists urge the population stay away from coasts and river mouths until waves are expected to arrive after 17:00 (08:00 GMT) while potential damage from the earthquake is assessed.

Nuclear power plant operators in the region review of the status of reactors at the Sendai, Kagoshima and Ikata power plants, in Ehime Prefecture, but no anomalies were recorded as a result of the earthquake.