Japan lies in the seismically-active Pacific “Ring of Fire” and is prone to severe earthquakes which have devastated the island nation several times during its history.

Japan Earthquake: A 6.3 magnitude earthquake struck Japan’s Kuril Islands on Thursday, according to the National Centre for Seismology. The epicentre of the earthquake was found to be at latitude of 44.36 and longitude of 149.23, the NCS said.

The tremor, which shook the Kuril Islands at 2:45 pm (IST), struck at a depth of 10 kilometers and registered a 6.3 on the Richter Scale.

“Earthquake of Magnitude:6.3, Occurred on 28-12-2023, 14:45:12 IST, Lat: 44.36 & Long: 149.23, Depth: 10 Km ,Location: Kuril Islands, Japan,” the NCS said in a post on X.

However, no casualties or injuries have been reported so far.

Meanwhile, United States Geological Survey (USGS) reported that according to its measurements, not one but two earthquakes struck near the Japanese coast in quick succession. The tremors were measured at 6.5 and 5.0 magnitude respectively.

According to the USGS, the first quake, which measured 6.5 magnitude on the Richter Scale, occurred at 2:45 pm. The tremor was epicentered off the southeast coast of the Kuril Islands. The second earthquake of magnitude 5.0, struck the Japanese Islands at 3:07 PM, it said.

The first earthquake struck at a depth of 23.8 km while the second one took place at 40 km around the same region, the USGS said.

Japan lies in the seismically-active Pacific “Ring of Fire” and is prone to severe earthquakes which have devastated the island nation several times during its history.

In August this year, a 6.0 magnitude earthquake struck Japan’s struck Hokkaido, according to the German Research Centre for Geosciences (GFZ)

The quake’s epicentre was 46 km (28.58 miles) below the Earth’s surface, GFZ had said.

Earlier, in May, an earthquake measuring 6.5 on the Richter Scale, jolted Japan’s western prefecture of Ishikawa, collapsing several buildings and injuring many residents.

Earthquakes are common in Japan, which sits on the Pacific “Ring of Fire”, an arc of intense seismic activity that stretches through Southeast Asia and across the Pacific basin.

(With inputs from agencies)