Magnitude 5.6 earthquake strikes off Japan’s Kyushu coast

A strong earthquake measuring magnitude 5.6 was recorded off the coast of Japan in the waters of Kagoshima Bay, about 35 kilometres southwest of the city of Kanoya in Kagoshima Prefecture on the island of Kyushu, according to the Altai-Sayan Branch of the Unified Geophysical Service RAS.

The tremor was registered at 12:00 local time on Sunday. Its epicentre was located less than 200 meters from the coastline of the Satsuma Peninsula. Based on shaking intensity at the epicentre, the earthquake was classified as “intense.”

Meanwhile, the United States Geological Survey assessed the earthquake’s magnitude slightly lower, at 5.5, and reported that the seismic focus lay at a depth of 127.5 kilometres.

By Tamilla Hasanova