Quake jolts northeastern Japan

An earthquake with a magnitude of 6.8 struck northeastern Japan on Wednesday morning.

The Japan Meteorological Agency says the quake occurred at around 6:12 AM. Its focus was 46 kilometers deep in the Pacific Ocean off Miyagi Prefecture. It didn't generate a tsunami, according to Japan's (NHK WORLD) website.

The inland city of Hanamaki in Iwate Prefecture felt the strongest jolt, with an intensity of 5-plus on the Japanese scale of zero to 7. The city is about 100 kilometers northwest of the estimated focus. People in other northeastern prefectures -- Aomori, Miyagi, Akita and Yamagata -- also felt strong tremors of intensity 5-minus or 4.

Japan's nuclear regulatory authorities say they received no reports of the quake causing irregularities or radioactive leaks at the crippled Fukushima Daiichi plant and other nuclear facilities.