1st LD Writethru: 5.0-magnitude quake strikes Japan's Hokkaido, no tsunami warning issued

TOKYO, Dec. 16 (Xinhua) -- An earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 5.0 struck the Hokkaido region in Japan's northernmost prefecture, the Japanese weather agency said Wednesday, but no tsunami warning was issued.

According to the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA), the temblor, which occurred at 10:28 a.m. local time (0128 GMT), was centered in the Kushiro Oki region of Japan's northern prefecture, with its epicenter located at a latitude of 42.7 degrees north and longitude of 144.2 degrees east.