M5.6 quake hits off Japan's northeast, no tsunami threat

An earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 5.6 struck off the northeastern Japan prefecture of Iwate late Friday, with no threat of a tsunami and no immediate reports of major property damage, the weather agency and local authorities said.The quake occurred at around 11:25 p.m., logging upper 5 on the Japanese seismic intensity scale of 7 in Noda in the prefecture, according to the Japan Meteorological Agency.The agency said the temblor occurred in waters off the prefecture's northern coast at a depth of 18 kilometers below the seabed. The magnitude of the quake was revised upward later …READ FULL ARTICLE