1st LD Writethru: 5.3-magnitude quake jolts Japan's Ibaraki region, no tsunami warning issued

An earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 5.3 struck Japan's Ibaraki Prefecture located on the main island of Honshu northeast of Tokyo on Monday, the weather agency here said.

According to the Japan Meteorological Agency, the temblor, struck at 6:59 a.m. local time, and registered 3 on Japan's seismic intensity scale which peaks at 7, in Ibaraki, which lies in the northeastern part of Japan's Kanto region and stretches between Tochigi Prefecture and the Pacific Ocean, and neighboring areas.

The earthquake's epicenter was located at a latitude of 35.9 degrees north and a longitude of 141.0 degrees east, the Japan Meteorological Agency said.

The weather agency also said the quake struck at a depth of 10 kilometers on Japan's eastern seaboard.

In Tokyo, the nation's capital, the quake registered level 1 on the scale of 7, the Japan Meteorological Agency said.

The agency has not issued a tsunami warning or advisory based on this moderately powerful, coastal quake.

As of the latest reports, there have been no immediate instances of damage or injury caused by the tremor, according to Japan's public broadcaster NHK, and all "potentially at risk" nuclear facilities in the region have reported no abnormalities, according to local utility officials and Japan's nuclear watchdog. Enditem