Northeast Japan was rattled early Thursday by a 6.7-magnitude earthquake.The temblor struck the northern half of the island nation, including Tokyo, at 6:51 a.m. local time.

The epicenter was at a depth of about 20 miles deep at a distance of 30 miles off the shore of the city of Miyako in Iwate prefecture, one of the areas hit by a massive earthquake just three months ago.

The area affected by the earthquake was the same that had been struck on March 11 by a mammoth 8.9-magnitude temblor that triggered a huge tsunami. Israel was the first country to send assistance to Japan at that time.

Six nuclear reactors had to be shut down due to damage from the earthquake/tsunami, including three that went into a meltdown. Some 23,000 people lost their lives and/or went missing in the disaster, including several Israelis. Hundreds of homes and businesses were destroyed.

No damage was detected at any of the nuclear reactors following Thursday's quake, however, according to a spokesman for the Tokyo Electric Power Company. 

A number of aftershocks followed, most of them small. No tsunami followed, either, despite fears of one.