An earthquake measuring 5.2 on the Richter scale struck the southwestern town of Makurazaki in Japan’s Kagoshima prefecture today.
According to the Japan Meteorological Agency, the epicentre was at a depth of 170 kilometres and there have been no reports of human or material damage from the earthquake.
Japan is at the junction of four tectonic plates, making it particularly vulnerable to seismic activity, and is also home to 100 active volcanoes. In 2011, a 9-magnitude earthquake, accompanied by tsunamis, killed more than 15,000 people and caused a disaster at the Fukushima nuclear power plant.