A powerful 5.9-magnitude earthquake hit central Japan early this morning, but no tsunami warning was issued, the Japan Meteorological and Seismological Agency (JMA) announced.

The tremor, which occurred at 06:31 (local time; 00:31 Greek time), was most felt in the Noto peninsula, which was already hit by a strong earthquake (magnitude 7.5) on January 1 that resulted in the loss of life the over 230 people.

According to Japan’s public broadcaster NHK, authorities have received no reports of casualties or damage at this stage.

A magnitude 4.8 aftershock was recorded about 10 minutes after the main one, JMA said.

NHK urged residents in the area to remain calm and cautious, with objects falling in particular as many people were starting their day.

The archipelago of Japan, whose underground tectonic plates intersect along the “ring of fire” in the Pacific Ocean, is among the nations with the most intense seismic activity in the world and, in an effort to minimize the consequences, an extremely strict building code is applied regulation. There are also frequent campaigns to raise awareness and inform citizens about measures to deal with natural disasters.

Some 2,227 earthquakes of magnitude 1 or greater on Japan’s seven-point Shinto scale were recorded in the archipelago in 2023, 19 of which were magnitude 6 or greater, according to the JMA.

The strongest earthquake ever recorded in Japan was that of March 2011, with a magnitude of 9, off the northeast coast of the archipelago, which was followed by a devastating tsunami, with the toll reaching 20,000 dead and missing. The tsunami caused the Fukushima nuclear accident, the worst in world history since Chernobyl in 1986.