Strong earthquake triggers tsunami warning

A magnitude 6.9 earthquake hit off Japan’s southern coast, shaking Okinawa and nearby islands, where a tsunami warning was issued, Japan’s Meteorological Agency said.

The quake occurred off the coast of the island of Okinawa at a depth of 6.2 miles at 8.31pm GMT (5.31am Saturday local time), the agency said.

It predicted a tsunami up to 6 feet high near the Okinawan coast. There were no immediate reports of major damage or casualties.

Ryota Ueno, a town official in the Nishihara district of Okinawa, said, “I was fast asleep when the quake hit, and I jumped out of bed. It felt like the shaking lasted forever.”

So far, only one resident reported a ruptured water pipe, but no other damage reported, he said.

Okinawa is about 1,000 miles south-west of Tokyo.

Japan is one of the world’s most earthquake-prone countries. In 1995, a magnitude-7.2 quake in the western port city of Kobe killed 6,400 people.