A preliminary magnitude-7.1 earthquake struck Kumamoto Prefecture in southwestern Japan on Tuesday, according to the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA). The quake hit at around 4:27 p.m. local time at a depth of approximately 10 kilometers. It registered a maximum seismic intensity of 7, the highest level on Japan's seismic intensity scale, in the hardest-hit areas of the prefecture, the JMA said. The agency issued a tsunami warning for waves of up to 1 meter along the Ariake Sea and Yatsushiro Sea coasts in southwestern Japan.