A warning for a tsunami as big as one metre ( three feet ) forecast to hit islands in Japan 's far south after a 6.6 magnitude earthquake struck off eastern Taiwan was cancelled on Monday . National broadcaster NHK said waves were possible on several islands in the southern Okinawa chain after a very shallow quake centred on Yonaguni in the southwest , near Taiwan . Witnesses said buildings swayed in Taipei but there was no visible damage in the Taiwan capital . General view of Ginowan city , north-east of the capital of Okinawa Prefecture in Japan ©Kazuhiro Nogi ( AFP/File ) 'We are issuing warnings via the radio , ' Satoshi Shimoji of the Miyako City government told NHK . 'We want residents to get as far as possible from the sea , ' he said . NHK said the tsunami -- an irregular wave that alters the sea level , and not necessarily a huge event -- were believed to have already arrived at remote Yonaguni , although no details were yet available . Live footage from coastal cameras showed sea levels had apparently not risen in several harbours within the warning zone . The Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre said in a statement that 'based on all the available data ... there is no tsunami threat from this earthquake . ' Map locating the epicenter of a 6.6-magnitude quake that hit the southwest edge of Japan 's Okinawa province , near the coast of Taiwan on April 20 , 2015 . The US Geological Survey said the 6.6 magnitude quake , which Japanese authorities had originally put at 6.8 , struck 71 kilometres ( 44 miles ) east of Hualian , Taiwan at 0143 GMT . Japan sits at the confluence of four of the earth 's tectonic plates and registers more than 20 percent of the planet 's most powerful earthquakes every year . Strict building codes and a long familiarity with the dangers mean that quakes that might cause devastation in other parts of the world are frequently uneventful in Japan . However , occasional disasters prove exceptionally deadly , and more than 18,000 people were killed by a huge tsunami that smashed into the northeast coast in 2011 after a huge 9.0 magnitude earthquake .
A tsunami warning for islands in Japan 's far south has been cancelled . A very shallow quake hit Yonaguni in the southwest , near Taiwan . Witnesses said buildings swayed in Taipei but there was no visible damage .