5.4-magnitude earthquake jolts Japan's Chiba prefecture

An earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 5.4 struck Japan's southern Chiba prefecture on Thursday, the Japan Meteorological Agency said.

According to the weather agency, the quake occurred in southern Chiba prefecture at 4:16am local time at a depth of 40 km, measuring upper 5 on Japan's seismic intensity scale, which peaks at 7.

The temblor's epicentre was located at a latitude of 35.2 degrees north and a longitude of 140.2 degrees east.

• At least 1 dead, 13 injured after strong earthquake hits Japan