Strong earthquake jolts northeastern Japan

Tokyo: Japan's Meteorological Agency said a strong earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 6.5 on Saturday jolted northeastern Japan, the same region devastated by March's massive quake and tsunami.

There were no immediate reports of injuries or damage from the quake, and no tsunami warning was issued.

The quake was centered 40 kilometres below the sea bed in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Miyagi prefecture in the same area where more than 22,000 people were killed or went missing after the March 11 quake and tsunami.