Following a series of earthquakes, a 1.2 metres tsunami wave hit Japan’s Wajima city in Ishikawa prefecture on Monday, reported NDTV.

The country faced 21 earthquakes with a magnitude of 4.0 or higher in just over 90 minutes, according to the Japan Meteorological Agency. The highest was of 7.6 magnitude with the epicentre 42 kms northeast of the Anamizu town in the Ishikawa prefecture.

The quakes prompted a tsunami alert for Ishikawa, Niigata, Toyama, Fukui and Yamagata prefectures and the northern part of the Hyogo prefecture.

However, later, Japan dropped the alert but told residents of coastal areas not to return to their homes as deadly waves could still come, reported the Hindustan Times.

At least six homes were damaged by the quakes, with people trapped inside, government spokesperson Yoshimasa Hayashi said. A fire broke out in Wajima city and electricity was out for more than 30,000 households, he added.

The quake around 4.10 pm local time was shallow with a depth of 10 kms, the United States Geological Survey said. Shallow earthquakes tend to be more destructive.

Tremors from the quake were also reported from different parts of the country including capital Tokyo.