NEW YORK, Dec. 29 (Xinhua) -- An earthquake measuring magnitude 5.5 jolted 71 km south of Obihiro of Japan at 19:08:30 GMT on Saturday, the U.S. Geological Survey said.

The epicenter, with a depth of 58.28 km, was initially determined to be at 42.2718 degrees north latitude and 143.2251 degrees east longitude.