Japan earthquake: Major 7.1 quake strikes as urgent tsunami warning issued

The tsunami made landfall just before 9.30am UK time in Kyushu's Miyazaki prefecture, with locals told to evacuate to higher ground as soon as possible.

The quake had been pencilled in as reaching 6.9 on the Richter scale - but Japan's meteorological agency updated this to a 7.1 mere minutes later.

Further open-source reports suggested the earthquake struck just off the country's west coast at some 30km beneath the Hyuga-nada Sea, in the Pacific Ocean.

The United States Geological Survey later placed the epicentre of the quake fewer than 20 miles off the coast of Miyazaki.

Japan Railways said the quake had forced them to halt their bullet trains in Kyushu - the southern-most of Japan's four main islands.

But further north, in Sendai - so badly hit in the country's devastating 2011 earthquake - nuclear power plant operators confirmed that things were continuing as normal.

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Despite the severity of the earthquake, authorities issued advisories for a tsunami just one metre high.

And at Miyazaki airport, travellers were forced to head to the terminal's upper floors as the tsunami hit.

Further footage from afflicted areas showed shops and cars shaking as buildings and roads were rocked by the tremors.

Japan's chief cabinet secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi said the country's government was checking for damage and casualties - but there were no immediate signs of major damage in the aftermath of the quake.

Thanks to its position on the Pacific Ocean's "Ring of Fire", Japan is no stranger to earthquakes.

On New Year's Day this year, a 7.6 magnitude earthquake struck the country's west coast, killing 240 - again, prompting authorities to urge people to flee to high land or to the top of nearby buildings.

Footage of the destruction showed buildings collapsing in Suzu as huge cracks appeared in roads, while more videos showed shoppers being thrown to the floor of a store and flooding at a train station after water pipes burst.

At the time, Around 33,500 households on the western coast of Honshu, Japan's largest island, were left without power, according to local utility firms.