Strong quake hits northeastern Japan

TOKYO: A strong 6.2-magnitude earthquake hit northeastern Japan Monday, but there was no tsunami warning or immediate reports of damage, seismologists said.

The quake struck at 3:51 am (1851 GMT) 79 kilometres (49 miles) southeast of Sendai in Miyagi prefecture, around the same area as the giant March 11 earthquake and tsunami, the US Geological Survey said. The depth of the quake was 35 kilometres, it said.

Japan, located at the junction of four tectonic plates, experiences 20 percent of the strongest quakes recorded on Earth each year. The devastating March 11 disaster left about 22,000 people dead or missing and triggered an atomic crisis at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant. (AFP)