Earthquake hits Japan

A 6.8-magnitude earthquake has struck off the coast of
northeastern Japan, the US Geological Survey has said, but
authorities have not issued a tsunami warning and there were
no immediate reports of damage.
The quake struck at 6:12am (21:12 GMT Tuesday) off the
east coast of Japan’s Honshu island in the Pacific Ocean at a
depth of 38.9km, according to USGS.
Japan’s meteorological agency said there was no immediate
tsunami threat from the earthquake, which hit 33km southeast
of the nearest city of Ofunato.
Large areas jolted by the latest tremor were among those
damaged by the 2011 quake and tsunami that killed more
than 18,000 people and triggered a nuclear meltdown at the
Fukushima power plant.
Wednesday’s earthquake did not damage any of the nuclear
reactors in the region, including those at the crippled
Fukushima facility, Japan’s public broadcaster NHK said.
All of Japan’s reactors have been off-line since the
Fukushima disaster.
Train services in the region, including “Shinkansen” bullet train
operations, were temporarily suspended following the quake,
officials said.