Shortly after 0600 GMT, the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said 1-1.2-metre waves were impacting the Hawaiian islands.

Several people were injured, while much of Japan's eastern seaboard was ordered to evacuate.

A 7.2 magnitude earthquake rocked Taiwan on Wednesday, the strongest tremor to hit the island in at least 25 years, killing four people, injuring dozens and sparking a tsunami warning for southern Japan and the Philippines that was later lifted

An earthquake of 6.9 magnitude strikes off the southern Philippine island of Mindanao and hazardous tsunami waves are possible on parts of the coasts of the Philippines and Indonesia.

Alaska and parts of western Canada braced for a possible tsunami after a magnitude-7.9 earthquake strikes the Gulf of Alaska, sparking evacuations in coastal Alaska and a tsunami warning for California that is lifted.