Japan earthquake: Residents flee some coastal areas as more tsunamis predicted

TOKYO: A powerful earthquake struck central Japan on Monday (Jan 1), triggering warnings for residents to evacuate some areas on its west coast, knocking out power to thousands of homes and disrupting flights and rail services to the affected region. The quake with a preliminary magnitude of 7.6 triggered waves of around 1m along parts of the Sea of Japan coast with a larger wave expected, public broadcaster NHK reported. The Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) has issued tsunami warnings for the coastal prefectures of Ishikawa, Niigata and Toyama, marking the first major warnings since the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami that struck northeastern Japan. A major tsunami warning means there was a possibility of waves of more than 3m. Russia…