TOKYO — Japan issued a tsunami warning Monday after a series of strong earthquakes struck the Sea of Japan.
The Japan Meteorological Agency announced that an earthquake occurred off the coast of Ishikawa Prefecture and neighboring prefectures just after 4 p.m., with preliminary estimates for one of the earthquakes having a magnitude of 7.6.
A major tsunami warning was issued for Ishikawa Prefecture, and a low-level tsunami warning or advisory was issued for the rest of Honshu's west coast.
Japan's public broadcaster NHK Television warned that torrents could reach heights of up to 16.5 feet and urged people to flee to higher ground or the roofs of nearby buildings as soon as possible.
NHK said the tsunami could return and the warning remained on air for nearly an hour after the first warning.
The government was scheduled to hold a press conference later that day. No damage reports were immediately available.
A tsunami about 3 meters high was expected to hit the west coast, including Niigata Prefecture. According to NHK, smaller tsunamis have already been confirmed to have reached the coastline.
This area contains a nuclear power plant. The operating company, Tokyo Electric Power Company, said it was checking to see if there were any problems, but there were no immediate reports of any abnormalities.
Japan is a country that experiences many earthquakes.
A major earthquake and tsunami occurred in March 2011. Nuclear power plant meltdown.
