Officials announce tsunami alert after massive earthquake rocks Japan

Officials announced a tsunami warning after a powerful earthquake hit close to the main Japanese island of Honshu.

What happened?

The quake — which many outlets are reporting to be between 6.5 and 6.9 magnitude — struck late Tuesday night at about 10:22 p.m., the Independent reported.

According to the Independent, "Japan's Meteorological Agency issued a warning for a 0.2-1.0 [meter] tsunami along the northwest coast of the island."

The Sun reported that a local public broadcaster is "urging people not to go near the coast" to see any approaching tsunami, and that officials have told people to get out of the water immediately and vacate coastal communities.

According to the Express, Murakami, a Niigata prefecture city with a population of about 60,000 "was among the hardest hit."

"Phone lines to city government, police and fire departments are knocked out, according to @nhk_news. #Japan #quake," the outlet reported.

No casualties have been reported at the time of this writing.

This is a developing story and may be updated.