Strong earthquake shakes northern Japan

[The Straight Story]

Strong earthquake shakes northern Japan

TOKYO - A strong earthquake rattled northern Japan on Sunday, and authorities said no tsunami was expected in the area. There were no immediate reports of serious damage or injuries.

The Japan Meteorological Agency said the afternoon quake had a preliminary magnitude of 6.2.

The earthquake occurred off the coast of the eastern Hama-dori region of Fukushima prefecture, which is located about 150 miles (240 kilometers) north of Tokyo.
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Tremors were felt in Tokyo and in neighboring prefectures, including Miyagi, Yamagata, Tochigi and Ibaraki.

The agency did not issue a tsunami alert.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/37665378

[gateley]

1. Wasn't there just one in the Indian Islands, too? nt

[csziggy]

4. 7.5

Magnitude 7.5
Date-Time

* Saturday, June 12, 2010 at 19:26:50 UTC
* Sunday, June 13, 2010 at 01:26:50 AM at epicenter
* Time of Earthquake in other Time Zones

Location 7.748°N, 91.938°E
Depth 35 km (21.7 miles) set by location program
Region NICOBAR ISLANDS, INDIA REGION
Distances 155 km (95 miles) W of Mohean, Nicobar Islands, India
440 km (275 miles) SSW of Port Blair, Andaman Islands, India
1155 km (710 miles) SW of BANGKOK, Thailand
2775 km (1720 miles) SE of NEW DELHI, Delhi, India

http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/recenteqsww/Quakes/us2010xkbv.php

[csziggy]

2. When I first looked at the USGS map, it wasn't on there

But it showed up when I zoomed in:



Magnitude 6.1
Date-Time

* Sunday, June 13, 2010 at 03:32:54 UTC
* Sunday, June 13, 2010 at 12:32:54 PM at epicenter
* Time of Earthquake in other Time Zones

Location 37.405°N, 141.602°E
Depth 7.7 km (4.8 miles) (poorly constrained)
Region NEAR THE EAST COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN
Distances 75 km (45 miles) ENE of Iwaki, Honshu, Japan
110 km (65 miles) ESE of Fukushima, Honshu, Japan
110 km (70 miles) E of Koriyama, Honshu, Japan
255 km (155 miles) NE of TOKYO, Japan

http://neic.usgs.gov/neis/bulletin/neic_xlan_l.html

[Art_from_Ark]

3. I felt it

It registered a 3 on the Japanese seismic intensity scale, which means it's strong enough to scare the crap out of you, but not strong enough to do major damage. It seemed to last a bit longer than the usual earthquakes around here. The hypocenter was about 24 miles beneath the ocean surface.

Whoever wrote that piece should take a lesson in Japanese geography. Yamagata and Miyagi prefectures could hardly be considered neighbors of Tokyo.

[gateley]

5. It's interesting that you say it seemed to last longer. Same with the one in Haiti,

and same with the last large one we had here (Seattle). I remember, standing there swaying, saying to a co-worker 'hmmmm..... this seems to be lasting quite a long time" -
wonder if it's a trend.

Glad you're okay! :hi:

[Art_from_Ark]

6. Thanks

It did scare the crap out of me. Usually we get some gentle swaying or some slight jolts lasting 15-20 seconds, and I'm used to those by now, but this one lasted at least 30 seconds, I was watching the clock as it was happening. I'm about 100 miles south of the epi/hypocenter, so the folks closer to that got a bigger jolt, up to a 5 which means that stuff was falling off shelves.

:hi: