HONG KONG, Jan. 17 (Xinhua) -- A moderate earthquake measuring 5.6 on the Richter scale occurred off the east coast of Honshu, Japan at 3:11 p.m. local time Sunday (0611GMT), according to a bulletin released by the Hong Kong Observatory on Sunday.

    The epicenter was initially determined to be 38.0 degrees north latitude and 143.6 degrees east longitude, about 240 kilometers east of Sendai, Japan.