Strong Quake Rocks Eastern Japan

Tokyo, May 26 (Jiji Press)--An earthquake with an estimated magnitude of 6.2 rocked eastern Japan on Friday, registering lower 5, the fifth-highest level on Japan's seismic intensity scale, in the city of Kamisu, Ibaraki Prefecture, and the cities of Choshi and Asahi, Chiba Prefecture.

The quake occurred at around 7:03 p.m. (10:03 a.m. GMT) at a depth of 50 kilometers in waters east of Chiba, according to the Japan Meteorological Agency. It did not cause a tsunami.

The quake was centered at the boundary between the Philippine Sea Plate and the Pacific Plate.

It followed a 5.2-magnitude earthquake that occurred in waters south of Chiba on May 11, measuring up to upper 5.

The agency believes that the two quakes are not directly related because the earlier quake was centered within the Philippine Sea Plate.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]