Earthquake of 5.5 Magnitude Hits East Coast of Japan’s Honshu

An earthquake of magnitude 5.5 hit Honshu in Japan

Tokyo: An earthquake of magnitude 5.5 hit the east coast of Honshu in Japan on Monday. The Official U.S. Geological Survey tweeted the earthquake alert in its official Twitter handle. More details are awaited.

Prelim M5.5 Earthquake off the east coast of Honshu, Japan Dec-24 00:43 UTC, updates https://t.co/ioMyncsmuk

— USGS Big Quakes (@USGSBigQuakes) December 24, 2018

Yet another earthquake of 6.4 magnitude hit the waters of the Pacific island nation of Tonga on Monday, the US Geological Survey said. No tsunami warning was issued and no immediate damage was reported. The quake hit an epicentre of approximately 85 kilometres north of the Tongan capital Nuku’alofa at a moderate depth of 100 kilometres (62 miles).

Last month, a strong 6.2-magnitude earthquake hit eastern Japan near the northeast coast of the main Honshu island, some 350 kilometres from Tokyo. According to the US Geological Survey, there were no immediate reports of damage caused by the quake which occurred from a depth of 44 kilometres.

In the month of September this year, 37 people were killed in a powerful earthquake that struck the northern island of Hokkaido in Japan, confirmed the Japanese authorities. The 6.7 magnitude earthquake had reportedly knocked out the power and train services across Hokkaido. Authorities took two days to restore electricity to most of the island of 5.4 million people.

Japan sits at the junction of four tectonic plates and is prone to numerous earthquakes that are relatively violent, every year. However, due to the rigid building codes and strict enforcement, even strong tremors often cause little damage.

(With Agency inputs)