Small tsunami waves hit the north-east coast of Japan after a magnitude-6.9 earthquake early Tuesday, weather authorities said, as evacuation orders and alerts were lifted in the region, dpa reported. Up to 20-centimetre-high tsunami waves hit coastal regions of Iwate prefecture, the Meteorological Agency said. A 20-centimetre tsunami was observed at the Kuji port, 550 kilometres north of Tokyo, at 9:07 am (0007 GMT), the agency said. The quake occurred at 8:06 am with its epicentre off the prefecture at a depth of 10 kilometres, the agency said. The tremor prompted the agency to issue a tsunami alert, saying a tsunami of up to 1 metre could hit the coastal regions of the prefecture. With no such waves observed, evacuation orders and instructions as well as the tsunami alert were lifted at 10:20 am.
