An eyewitness captured people watching on as Keta Grand Shrine shook during a powerful earthquake in central Japan on Monday (January 1).

The footage showed people gathered outside the shrine in Hakui, in Japan's Ishikawa Prefecture, as it creaked, and surrounding trees swayed.

• Major Japan quake prompts tsunami warning, residents told to run

The quake with a preliminary magnitude of 7.6 killed at least one person, destroyed buildings, knocked out power to tens of thousands of homes and prompted residents in some coastal areas to flee to higher ground.

The Japan Meteorological Agency issued tsunami warnings for the prefectures of Ishikawa, Niigata and Toyama. A major tsunami warning - the first since the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami that struck northeastern Japan - was initially issued for Ishikawa but later downgraded.

(Production: Anna Lubowicka, Millie McCaughan)