The quake occurred at 21:23 GMT on Wednesday at a depth of about 10 kilometers (6.2 miles), the USGS said.
Earlier on Wednesday, the Japanese authorities registered multiple aftershocks near the eastern Fukushima prefecture that followed a major quake.
On Tuesday, the Japan Meteorological Agency reported a 7.3-magnitude earthquake that hit the eastern part of the country`s coast near the province of Fukushima and issued a tsunami warning. Soon after that the agency updated the magnitude of the tremor to 7.4. In March 2011, a 9.0-magnitude offshore earthquake triggered a 46-foot tsunami that hit Japan`s Fukushima nuclear power plant, leading to the leakage of radioactive materials and the shutdown of the plant. The accident is considered to be the world`s worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl.
5.6-Magnitude earthquake hits Southeast of Namie in Japan’s Fukushima - USGS
24 November 2016
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A magnitude 5.6 earthquake has hit off the coast of Japan, about 37 kilometers (23 miles) from Namie, a town in Futaba district of Japan’s Fukushima, the US Geological Survey (USGS) reports.
