6.0-magnitude quake hits off Japan coast, no tsunami warning

This Sept. 30, 2017 aerial photo shows the reactors of No. 6, right, and No. 7, left, at Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear power plant, Niigata prefecture. Japanese nuclear regulators say two reactors run by the utility blamed in the Fukushima plant meltdowns have met their safety standards, saying the operator has since taken sufficient measures at another plant it owns.

A 6.0-magnitude earthquake hit off the coast of Fukushima in Japan on Friday but there was no risk of a tsunami, officials said.

The quake hit at a relatively shallow depth of 10 km at 04:59 pm (1329 IST), 255 km east of Ishinomaki, according to the United States Geological Survey.

The Japan Meteorological Agency said the quake posed no tsunami risk.

A 9.0-magnitude earthquake in March 2011 triggered a massive and deadly tsunami, which smashed into the Fukushima nuclear power station and sparked the world’s worst atomic accident since Chernobyl in 1986.

Its operator is working to clean up and dismantle the reactors in a process that is expected to take at least four decades.