Earthquake Today: Magnitude 6.2 tremor strikes western japan; no tsunami alert

An initial magnitude 6.2 earthquake struck western Japan on Tuesday, with no tsunami warning issued, the Japan Meteorological Agency said.

The epicenter was located in the eastern part of Shimane Prefecture, and the quake registered an upper five on Japan’s Shindo intensity scale in the city of Yasugi, strong enough to topple heavy furniture and make driving difficult.

Following the main tremor, the same region experienced several smaller quakes with magnitudes of 4.5, 5.1, 3.8, and 5.4.The US Geological Survey recorded a slightly lower magnitude of 5.8 for the earthquake.

Japan is one of the world’s most seismically active countries, sitting atop four major tectonic plates along the western edge of the Pacific “Ring of Fire”.

The archipelago, home to roughly 125 million people, experiences around 1,500 earthquakes every year, most of them mild, though damage varies depending on location and depth, AP reported.