An earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 4.4 jolted southwestern Japan on Friday, registering upper 5 on the Japanese seismic scale of 7 in Oita Prefecture, Kyodo quoted the Japan Meteorological Agency as saying.

The quake, which was centered in central Oita Prefecture at a depth of around 10 kilometers, occurred at 3:09 p.m., the agency said, adding no tsunami warning was issued.

The hot spring resort area of Yufuin was hit the hardest, while the quake was also felt in other areas such as Kumamoto and Miyazaki prefectures.

Source ; MENA