Light earthquake hits northeast of Japanese capital

TOKYO

A light earthquake with a magnitude of 4.6 struck northeast of the Japanese capital Sunday night.

The Japan Meteorological Agency reported that the tremor occurred at a depth of 50 kilometers (31 miles) shortly before 7.30 p.m. (1230GMT).

Some parts of Tokyo experienced seismic activity registering 3 out of the agency’s intensity scale of 7, while the U.S. Geological Survey recorded the earthquake as hitting 43 kilometers northeast of Tokyo.

The tremor came less than two days after a magnitude 6.4 earthquake struck southern Taiwan, collapsing several buildings and leaving at least 26 people dead and around 120 still missing in Tainan city.

Japan is one of the world’s most seismically active areas. It accounts for around 20 percent of the world’s earthquakes of magnitude 6 or greater.

The country’s coastal areas of Aomori, Iwate, Miyagi and Fukushima prefectures were devastated in the wake of a March 2011 quake.

An ensuing massive tsunami killed more than 18,000 people and triggered a nuclear disaster.