Magnitude 5.3 quake hits southern Japan, no tsunami warning

[TOKYO] An earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 5.2 hit the southern Japanese island of Kyushu on Tuesday, but no tsunami warning was issued and there were no immediate reports of injuries or damage.

The quake was centered just offshore from the city of Kagoshima, NHK public television said.

There were no irregularities at the nearby Sendai nuclear plant, where two reactors are in operation, Kyushu Electric Power Co said.

Japan is one of the world's most seismically active areas, accounting for about a fifth of the world's earthquakes of magnitude six or greater.

On March 11, 2011, the northeast coast was struck by a magnitude nine earthquake, the strongest quake in Japan on record, and a massive tsunami. Those events triggered the world's worst nuclear crisis since Chernobyl a quarter of a century earlier.

REUTERS