Small tsunami hit Japan’s northeastern coastline following a strong earthquake jolted the region on Wednesday.

 Small tsunami hit Japan’s northeastern coastline following a strong earthquake jolted the region on Wednesday.

The 20 centimeter wave and 6.8 magnitude quake, which struck around 210 kilometers off the northern island of Hokkaido, prompted local authorities to issue an evacuation warning for coastal residents before it hit land.
Japan's meteorological agency also confirmed that an earlier 10-centimetre wave hit land.

The waves hit two locations in Aomori prefecture, which was one of the areas in Japan's northeast devastated by last year's disaster.

The quake struck at a relatively shallow 10 kilometers below the seabed at 6:09 pm local time (0909 GMT).

The tsunami warning -- which was lifted at 1040 GMT -- comes after a 9.0-magnitude earthquake triggered a monster wave on March 11 last year that killed more than 19,000 people and crippled Japan's Fukushima nuclear plant.