Two earthquakes struck in the waters off Korea and Japan on Sunday, while China was struggling to find survivors from a powerful quake that hit the country’s inland a day earlier.

In Korea, a magnitude-4.9 earthquake hit near the waters off of Sinan, South Jeolla Province, at 8:21 a.m. on Sunday, recording the strongest tremor detected in South Korea this year.

According to the Korea Meteorological Administration, the quake’s epicenter was 101 kilometers northwest of Heuksan County, a small town in Sinan. No damage or causalities were reported, as the quake happened underwater far from the coast, officials said. But many residents in Heuksan county said they felt the shock and saw windows of buildings shaking. The quake lasted for four seconds, they added.

About four hours later, a magnitude-6.1 earthquake struck off the south coast of Japan’s main Honshu island, but no tsunami warning was issued.

The quake hit at 12:22 p.m., 644 kilometers south of Tokyo, at a depth of 424 kilometers, according to the United States Geological Survey.

On Friday, a major magnitude-7.2 earthquake hit northern Japan, shaking towns in Japan’s northernmost region of Hokkaido, according to news reports.

By Cho Chung-un
(christory@heraldcorp.com)