Earthquake jolts Japanese island of Hokkaido

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
An earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 5.1 jolted Japan's main northern island of Hokkaido Sunday morning, but there were no immediate reports of casualties or damage, the Japan Meteorological Agency said. The quake, which occurred at 7:34 a.m, struck southeast of the Nemuro Peninsula at a depth of about 50 kilometers (31.25 miles) There was no risk of a tsunami, Kyodo News Agency reported, citing the meteorological agency. A magnitude-6.8 earthquake hit Niigata in October, killing 40 people and damaging thousands of homes. It was the deadliest to hit Japan since 1995, when a magnitude-7.2 quake killed 6,433 people in the western city of Kobe