As Super Typhoon Hagibis bore down on Japan on Saturday - the most violent storm to strike in more than 60 years - the country was rattled on another front by a magnitude 5.7 earthquake.

The quake, which shook large parts of the east just as Japan was on the highest level of alert for the approaching typhoon, underlined the threat that natural disasters constantly pose to the Japanese people.

At a depth of around 50 miles beneath the seabed close to the mouth of Tokyo Bay, it was felt several hundred miles from the epicentre. The Japan Meteorological Agency released an assessment three minutes after the tremor to confirm that there was no threat of a tsunami and there were no immediate reports of casualties.

The magnitude 9 earthquake and the tsunami that it triggered in March 2011 are still fresh in the memories of most Japanese, and it is fortunate that Saturday’s quake was not more serious. Out in force to respond to the typhoon, emergency services and the Japanese military could have been stretched beyond breaking point if they were also required to cope with victims of yet another tragedy.

In the last decade, Japan has experienced some of the most extreme weather conditions and catastrophic natural disasters anywhere on the planet. And as a result, the country's civil protection and monitoring agencies are among the busiest in the world.