Magnitude 6.0 quake hits off east coast of Japan

TOKYO (AA) – An earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 6.0 struck off the east coast of Japan early Sunday morning.

The United States Geological Survey, or USGS, recorded the temblor at occurring 170 kilometers (106 miles) northeast of Miyako city in Iwate Prefecture at a depth of 10 kilometers shortly before 1 a.m. (1600GMT Saturday).

It was followed by a magnitude 5.3 quake in seawaters around the same area 12 minutes later.

There were no immediate reports of a tsunami alert.

Japan is one of the world’s most seismically active areas. It accounts for around 20 percent of the world’s earthquakes of magnitude 6 or greater.

The country’s coastal areas of Aomori, Iwate, Miyagi and Fukushima prefectures were devastated in the wake of a March 2011 quake. An ensuing massive tsunami killed more than 18,000 people and triggered a nuclear disaster.