The U.S. Geological Survey says a moderate earthquake measuring 5.5 on the Richter scale hit southern Japan Wednesday, but there were no immediate reports of casualties or damage to property and no tsunami alert was issued.
The offshore quake struck at 4:03 am local time (1703 GMT Tuesday) 88 miles (142 kms) southwest of the country's remote, Bonin Islands in the northwestern Pacific, some 620 miles (1,000 kms) south of the capital, Tokyo, at a depth of 53 miles (86 km), the U.S. agency said.
Japan is one of the world's most earthquake-prone countries with around 20 per cent of the world's most powerful earthquakes striking Japan. In 1995, a magnitude-7.2 quake in the western port city of Kobe killed 6,400 persons.
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