Moderate quake strikes off Japan

TOKYO—A 5.2-magnitude earthquake struck off the northeast coast of Japan on Thursday, the United States Geological Survey (USGS) reported.

The quake hit at a depth of 22 kilometers at 06:34 am (2134 GMT Wednesday), about 22 kilometers southeast of the northern city of Nemuro, the USGS said.

A powerful 7.3-magnitude undersea quake off the northeast coast in December triggered a one-metre-high tsunami but no reports of fatalities.

In March 2011 a devastating earthquake and tsunami in the same area left some 19,000 people dead or missing and crippled the Fukushima nuclear power plant in the world’s worst atomic disaster in 25 years.