6.5-magnitude earthquake hits Japan, no tsunami warning

STORY: RESENDING SCRIPT UPDATING EARTHQUAKE TO MAGNITUDE 6.5

The government has set up a disaster countermeasures office in a crisis management centre headed by the prime minister.

Japan's Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno said residents should continue to watch out for earthquakes with a seismic intensity at an upper-6 or higher on the Japanese intensity scale which runs to 7.

No abnormalities were reported at the Shika nuclear power plant located in Ishikawa prefecture, as well as at the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa plant in neighbouring prefecture of Niigata, Matsuno added.