A 5.6 magnitude earthquake has struck Japan’s Kyushu region, the European-Mediterranean Seismological Centre said.

The quake, which hit the country’s southernmost of its four main islands, was 25 miles (40 kilometres) below the earth’s surface.

The United States Geological Survey describes an earthquake with a magnitude of 5.3 as moderate and an earthquake with a magnitude of 6.3 as strong.

According to the Japan Meteorological Agency, the earthquake’s epicentre was located off the east coast of the Osumi Peninsula, in the southern part of the island.

Japan experiences frequent earthquakes due to its geographical location.

It sits on the “Ring of Fire” arc of volcanoes and oceanic trenches that partly encircles the Pacific Basin.

In 2011, the deadly Tohoku 9.0 magnitude earthquake and tsunami killed nearly 20,000 people and caused the meltdown of three nuclear reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant.