5.8 magnitude quake hits Japan

An earthquake measuring 5.8 magnitude on the Richter scale hit Japan's Miyagi province on Saturday but no tsunami alert was issued, weather officials said.

According to the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA), the tremor occurred at 6.43 a.m., at a depth of 60 km with its epicentre in the waters off Miyagi, Efe news reported.

The US Geological Survey reported the strength as a 6.2 magnitude and the hypocenter at 45 km.

East Japan Railway briefly suspended the high speed train service on the Tohoku line between Sendai and Morioka stations and power companies reported that no unusual activity was detected in the nuclear power plants of the area.

The quake reached level 4 on the Japanese scale of 7, based on the intensity of the tremor.

The quake was also felt in Fukushima province where it reached level 3 with no damage reported.

Japan sits on the ring of fire, one of the world's most active seismic areas and suffers frequent earthquakes due to which most infrastructure is especially designed to withstand tremors.

--IANS

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