TOKYO, Feb. 15 (Xinhua) -- An earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 5.0 struck off the central Japanese prefecture of Niigata, the country's weather agency said on Thursday.
According to the Japan Meteorological Agency, the temblor occurred at 3:29 p.m. local time (0629 GMT) at a depth of 10 km, measuring three on Japan's seismic intensity scale, which peaks at seven.
The temblor's epicenter was located off the coast of Joetsu and Chuetsu in Niigata prefecture at a latitude of 37.6 degrees north and a longitude of 137.6 degrees east.
Tremors were also felt in the prefectures of Ishikawa, Gunma, Toyama and Nagano.
No casualties have been reported so far, and the weather agency has not issued tsunami warnings. ■
