Moderate 5.4 quake hits western Japan

A moderate 5.4-magnitude earthquake hit western Japan today, seismologists said, but no tsunami warning was issued.

A moderate 5.4-magnitude earthquake hit western Japan today, seismologists said, but no tsunami warning was issued.

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The quake hit at 7:18 pm (1018 GMT) in Wakayama prefecture, some 450 kilometres (279 miles) southwest of Tokyo, with its epicentre a shallow 10 kilometres (6.2 miles) deep, the Japan Meteorological Agency said.

A 9.0-magnitude quake that struck the country's northeast on March 11 and the tsunami that followed left 23,000 people dead or missing and triggered an atomic crisis at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant.