A small tsunami has hit the northern most island of Japan following a powerful earthquake on Wednesday 15th November.

|PIC1|The island of Hokkaido was hit by the tsunami after the 8.1 magnitude earthquake near the Etorofu Island, the Japan Meteorological Agency has said.

A tsunami measuring 40cm hit Nemuro on the east coast of Hokkaido, 11.29pm (AEDT) last night. Following that a 2nd wave, a 20cm tsunami struck Kushiro, a city down the coast from Nemuro, 20 minutes later.

The tsunamis have hit after a tsunami warning covering a wide area of Japan's Pacific coast on the main island of Honshu and coastal areas of Hokkaido.

The Japanese agencies explained that a tsunami of 50cm is expected to hit wide areas of the Pacific coast of Honshu between the Tohoku and Tokai regions.

Local governments in Hokkaido and neighbouring regions quickly ordered residents of coastal areas to evacuate to higher ground.

The Japanese Government has set up an emergency liaison office to deal with the situation, Christian Today has been told.