Series of quakes jolt eastern Japan

TOKYO (AFP) - A series of earthquakes jolted Tokyo and parts of eastern Japan on Saturday but there were no immediate reports of major damage or casualties, officials said.

The biggest quake, measuring 5.1 on the Richter scale, happened at 4:55 pm off Chiba prefecture in the Pacific and 20 kilometers below the seabed, the meteorological agency said.

The agency issued no tsunami warning.

The jolt followed three earthquakes with the magnitude of 4.8, 4.6 and 3.4 earlier in the day in the region. Another quake measuring 5.3 on the Richter scale also struck early Thursday.

A 67-year-old woman in Funabashi, eastern Chiba, broke her left arm when she fell out of bed following the first quake on Saturday, while train services were temporarily suspended in the region, local officials said.

There was no report on damage from the earthquakes, which swayed buildings in Chiba just east of Tokyo, they said.