OREANDA-NEWS  An earthquake of magnitude 5.8 occurred in the Pacific Ocean off the east coast of Honshu Island (Japan), the Altai-Sayan branch of the Unified Geophysical Service of the Russian Academy of Sciences reports.

According to the operational processing data of the Altai-Sayan branch, the epicenter of the earthquake recorded at 13:39 Moscow time on Friday was located 337 km south-east of the Japanese city of Choshi (Chiba Prefecture).

According to the intensity of the tremors in the epicenter, the earthquake is rated as "devastating".

The US Geological Survey estimated the magnitude of the earthquake at 6.1. According to its data, the earthquake was located at a depth of 10 km.