TOKYO, Oct. 24 (Xinhuanet) -- A strong earthquake, registering a preliminary magnitude of 4.9 on the Richter scale, shook northwestern Japan centering in Ojiya, Niigata Prefecture, on Sunday afternoon, the Japan Meteorological Agency said.

    The town of Ojiya is one of the hardest-hit areas following a series of powerful earthquakes the previous day, which left at least 18 people dead and 1,000 others injured.

    The focus of the latest quake is the Chuetsu region of the prefecture. The agency did not issue any tsunami tidal wave warnings.

    The quake, which occurred around 2:12 p.m. (0512 GMT), marked upper 5 on the Japanese seismic intensity scale of 7 in Ojiya, and4 in its vicinity areas of Tokamachi, Horinouchi, Takayanagi and Kariwa. Enditem