7.2 Major Earthquake Strikes Near Japan (Several updated news stories)

Live Science.com, AP plus various Japanese newspapers ^ | August 16, 2005

[bd476]

Major Earthquake Strikes Near Japan
By The Associated Press and LiveScience Staff

posted: 15 August 2005 11:22 pm ET

A major earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 7.2 struck offshore, northeast of Tokyo, Japan. It occurred near the east coast of Honshu, 60 miles East of the town of Sendai. [Map]

The quake struck at 11:46 a.m. local time (02:46 Universal Time) on Aug. 16.

The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center issued a bulletin: "No destructive pacific-wide tsunami threat exists based on historical earthquake and tsunami data."

Local tsunami were possible, the center said, but there was only a very minor local fluctuation in sea level.

Early reports put the magnitude at 6.8 to 7.2. But by 8:33 p.m. ET the number had been revised to 7.2 by the U.S. Geological Survey. It could still change as more data rolls in.

Some buildings collapsed and power was knocked out. The temblor shook skyscrapers in Tokyo, more than 300 kilometers (186 miles) away.

A caved-in roof at an indoor pool in the coastal city of Sendai injured 14 people, national broadcaster NHK reported. Two more people were injured in the neighboring prefecture (state) of Iwate, Kyodo News Agency reported.

Footage also showed a collapsed house outside Tokyo and landslides in the quake zone.

The temblor knocked out power to about 17,000 households and suspended bullet train services in northern Japan and temporarily grounded flights at Tokyo's Haneda airport, Kyodo said.

The quake hit around 11:46 a.m. (02:46 GMT) and was centered 20 kilometers (12.4 miles) below the ocean floor about 80 kilometers (49.6 miles) off the coast of Miyagi prefecture (state) in northeastern Japan, the Meteorological Agency said. Two 10 centimeter (4 inch) tsunamis hit the nearby coast shortly after noon, and officials expected little damage from the waves.

The quake was followed by at least four aftershocks and additional quakes of up to magnitude 6 could follow, the agency said.

Authorities in Miyagi prefecture were still assessing damage in the area, local government official Masami Oshima said, adding that it was premature to give estimates.

"The horizontal shaking was very strong, so much so that I almost couldn't remain standing,'' Oshima said.

Sendai, the capital of Miyagi, is about 300 kilometers (186 miles) northeast of Tokyo. A nuclear power plant in the neighboring prefecture (state) of Fukushima was not affected by the earthquake, Kyodo reported citing the plant's operator. Another plant in Onagawa in Miyagi prefecture (state) shut down automatically and was being checked for damage, news reports said.

*****

Japan Today

7.2 quake strikes northeastern Japan, 27 reported injured

MIYAGI — A powerful earthquake, registering a preliminary magnitude of 7.2, struck northeastern Japan just before noon Tuesday and a tsunami alert has been issued for the coastal region of Miyagi Prefecture, the Japan Meteorological Agency said. At least 27 peopel were reported injured.

In Sendai, the roof of a swimming pool in a sports complex collapsed and injured several people, police said. Shinkansen bullet train services from Tokyo have been suspended temporarily. The quake's focus was 42 kilometers below the surface of the sea off Miyagi. The quake registered 4 in central Tokyo. (Kyodo News)

Japan Today

[bd476]

Japan Times

BREAKING NEWS

M6.8 quake jolts northeastern Japan, injuries reported

Compiled from wire reports

An earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 6.8 jolted northeastern Japan on Tuesday and a tsunami warning was issued for the coastal region of Miyagi Prefecture, the Japan Meteorological Agency said.

The 11:46 a.m. quake registered lower 6 on the seven-point Japanese seismic intensity scale in southern Miyagi Prefecture, about 300 km northeast of Tokyo.

Many in the city of Sendai, the capital of Miyagi, were reported injured, according to the local fire department. Japan's Kyodo News reported that a roof fell in at a sports center in the city, injuring many.

The Japanese government has set up a task force at the crisis management center of the prime minister's office.

The quake, which also swayed high-rise buildings in Tokyo, originated about 20 km off the coast of the prefecture in the Pacific Ocean, the agency said.

The Onagawa nuclear power plant, located about 70 km north of Sendai, automatically shut down, Kyodo reported.

Bullet train services on the JR Tokaido, Tohoku, Joetsu, Nagano Shinkansen lines from Tokyo were temporarily suspended, the train operator said.

More up-to-date details will appear in tomorrow's edition of The Japan Times.

Japan Times

[bd476]

Updated Japan Earthquake news stories.

[Blue Champagne]

Thanks for the update - much appreciated.

[Sacajaweau]

Sure appreciate being on your ping list. My son is in Japan.

[bd476]

Magnitude 6.8 quake shakes buildings
in Tokyo; tsunami warning issued

Canadian Press

Tuesday, August 16, 2005

Documents are scattered on the floor of the
Kyodo News Agency's bureau in Sendai in
Miyagi Prefecture shortly after a magnitude-6.8
earthquake hit northern Japan, shaking buildings
as far away as Tokyo.
(AP Photo/Kyodo News)

TOKYO (AP) - A strong earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 6.8 struck the northeast coast of Japan on Tuesday, triggering a tsunami warning and shaking buildings more than 300 kilometres away in Tokyo, the Meteorological Agency said.

Eighty people were injured when the roof of an indoor pool collapsed in the coastal city of Sendai, the national broadcaster NHK reported. None of the injuries was critical, according to the Kyodo News Agency, which also reported two people injured in the neighbouring state of Iwata.

Bullet train service was suspended in northern Japan, while Tokyo's Haneda airport temporarily halted flights, Kyodo said.

A 10-centimetre tsunami reached the Japanese shore about 15 minutes after the quake struck, NHK said, with no major damage immediately reported. While a tsunami can rise to great heights when it arrives at the shore, such waves are often barely noticeable in the ocean.

The quake was centred nearly 20 kilometres beneath the ocean off the coast of Miyagi state in northeastern Japan, NHK said. The quake hit around 11:46 a.m. local time.

The U.S. Geological Survey registered the quake with a 7.2 magnitude.

Japan sits at the juncture of four tectonic plates - or moving slabs of the earth's outer crust - and is one of the world's most quake-prone regions.

Earlier in the day, a 4.9 magnitude earthquake shook Japan's northern island of Hokkaido. There was no danger of a tsunami in that one.

A magnitude-6.0 quake shook the Tokyo area July 23, injuring more than two dozen people and suspending flights and trains for hours. A magnitude-5 quake can damage homes and other buildings if it is centred in a heavily populated area.

A Dec. 26 earthquake with a magnitude estimated at 9.1 to 9.3 and the subsequent tsunami killed more than 131,000 people in Indonesia and left half a million homeless. Three months later, another strong temblor left more than 900 dead on Nias and smaller surrounding islands.

Canada.com

[bd476]

You're welcome. Just wanted to compile a bunch of the different news stories on the quake.

[bd476]

Thank you Sacajaweau. Have you heard from your son yet?

[agitator]

shaky bump

[bd476]

It's an agitating shaky big bump.

[Sacajaweau]

I usually send him a "How ya doin'" email and he writes back. I have the coordinates of where he lives in Tokyo but he likes to travel around, too.

Will get back to you. Again, thanks!

[South40]

Latest Quakes

EQ Facts & Lists

Hazards & Preparedness

For Kids Only

Regional Websites

Science & Technology

HOME

|

ABOUT US

|

EQ GLOSSARY

|

FOR TEACHERS

|

PRODUCTS & SERVICES

|

DID YOU FEEL IT?

|

FAQ

|

SEARCH

Earthquake Activity

---

Current Earthquakes

Maps

USA:	M1+
World:	M2.5+/4+

Lists

USA:	M1+, M3+
World:	M2.5+/4+, M5+, Last 8-30 Days

RSS 2.0 RSS Instructions & Info

---

ShakeMaps

Seismogram Displays

Earthquake Data

Past & Historical Earthquakes

Earthquake Notification E-mail

Large Significant Earthquakes This Year

Significant Earthquake Posters

Fast Moment Tensor Solutions

Latest Energy & Broadband Solutions

---

Region Maps

Africa
Asia
Australia
Europe
North America
North Pole
South America
South Pacific
South Pole

Hemisphere Maps

West
East
North
South

Other Maps

Guam
Hawaii
World-Mercator

Animations

Data Sources

FAQ About These Maps

Network Contacts

Magnitude 7.2 - NEAR THE EAST COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN
2005 August 16 02:46:30 UTC

Preliminary Earthquake Report
U.S. Geological Survey, National Earthquake Information Center
World Data Center for Seismology, Denver

A major earthquake occurred at 02:46:30 (UTC) on Tuesday, August 16, 2005. The magnitude 7.2 event has been located in NEAR THE EAST COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN. The hypocentral depth was estimated to be 53 km (33 miles). (This event has been reviewed by a seismologist.)

Magnitude	7.2
Date-Time	Tuesday, August 16, 2005 at 02:46:30 (UTC) = Coordinated Universal Time Tuesday, August 16, 2005 at 11:46:30 AM = local time at epicenter
Location	38.267°N, 141.990°E
Depth	52.8 km (32.8 miles)
Region	NEAR THE EAST COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN
Distances	95 km (60 miles) E of Sendai, Honshu, Japan 145 km (90 miles) ENE of Fukushima, Honshu, Japan 165 km (100 miles) NE of Iwaki, Honshu, Japan 350 km (220 miles) NE of TOKYO, Japan
Location Uncertainty	horizontal +/- 7.3 km (4.5 miles); depth +/- 12.7 km (7.9 miles)
Parameters	Nst=196, Nph=196, Dmin=385.7 km, Rmss=1.01 sec, Gp= 40°, M-type=moment magnitude (Mw), Version=7
Source	USGS NEIC (WDCS-D)
Event ID	usbvae

News Release Location Maps: 10-degree NEIC Maps Did you feel it? Report shaking and damage at your location. You can also view a map displaying accumulated data from your report and others. NEIC Moment Tensor Solution Historical Moment Tensor Solutions Seismic Hazard Map Historical Seismicity Theoretical P-Wave Travel Times Phase Data Magnitude 7 and Greater Earthquakes in 2005 Earthquake Density Maps Earthquake Information for ASIA Earthquake Information for JAPAN Archive of newsworthy events

Tsunami Information West Coast & Alaska Tsunami Warning Center Latest Tsunami Bulletin Pacific Tsunami Warning Center Latest Tsunami Bulletin The earthquake locations and magnitudes cited in these bulletins are very preliminary, and may disagree with the more accurate USGS locations and magnitudes computed using more extensive data sets. Recent Tsunamis Tsunami Information Links

Printer friendly version

For more information, go to http://neic.usgs.gov/ || Contacts

Back to: World map | USA map

The official magnitude for this earthquake is indicated at the top of this page. This was the best available estimate of the earthquake's size, at the time that this page was created. Other magnitudes associated with web pages linked from here are those determined at various times following the earthquake with different types of seismic data. Although, given the data used, they are legitimate estimates of magnitude, they are not considered the official magnitude.

---

FAQ about Earthquakes | Earthquake Preparedness

The USGS Earthquake Hazards Program (EHP) of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS)
is part of the National Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program (NEHRP)
led by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). 

 

U.S. Department of the Interior, U.S. Geological Survey This page is brought to you by the Earthquake Hazards Program URL: http://earthquake.usgs.gov/recenteqsww/Quakes/usbvae.htm Maintained by: Web Team Last modification: 16 August 2005 Contact Us: Web_Team USGS Privacy Statement | | Disclaimer | | FOIA | | Accessibility

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

From the Vegas SUN:

********************************

Today: August 15, 2005 at 23:20:24 PDT

27 Reported Injured in Japan Earthquake

By HIROKO TABUCHI
ASSOCIATED PRESS

TOKYO (AP) -

A powerful magnitude-7.2 earthquake struck northeastern Japan on Tuesday, triggering two small tsunamis and shaking skyscrapers as far away as Tokyo, 185 miles to the south. At least 27 people were reported injured.

A caved-in roof at an indoor pool in the coastal city of Sendai injured 14 people, national broadcaster NHK reported. Others in the quake zone were hurt by falling rocks and tumbling roof tiles.

Television footage showed a collapsed house outside Tokyo and landslides in the quake-hit area.

"The horizontal shaking was very strong, so much so that I almost couldn't remain standing," said Masami Oshima, an official with Miyagi state, which includes Sendai.

Kyodo News said there were preliminary reports of 27 people injured; it was not clear if that number included those injured in the roof collapse.

The quake knocked out power to about 17,000 households, while bullet train services in northern Japan were suspended and flights were temporarily grounded at Tokyo's Haneda airport.

The quake hit around 11:46 a.m. and was centered 12 below the ocean floor about 50 miles off the coast of Miyagi in northeastern Japan, the Meteorological Agency said.

Two tsunamis that were originally forecast to be 20 inches in height hit the coast with 4-inch waves; officials expected little damage. Tsunami waves are often barely noticeable in the ocean but can rise to great heights once they arrive at shore.

The quake was followed by at least four aftershocks and additional quakes of up to magnitude 6 could follow, the agency said.

In 1995, a magnitude-7.3 quake in the western port city of Kobe killed 6,400 people. The depth and offshore location of Tuesday's quake helped limit the damage that might have occurred had the earthquake been centered under a city.

One person injured in the roof collapse was seriously hurt, NHK said. Separately, a 72-year-old man sustained a broken leg, news reports said, while a 7-year-old child was injured by falling rocks in the town of Zao, according to local official Mitsuharu Shishido.

The U.S. Geological Survey and Japan's Meteorological Agency both measured the quake at a magnitude of 7.2.

Japan sits at the juncture of four tectonic plates - or moving slabs of the earth's outer crust - and is one of the world's most quake-prone regions. A magnitude-6.0 quake shook the Tokyo area on July 23, injuring more than two dozen people and suspending flights and trains for hours. A magnitude-5 quake can damage homes and other buildings if it is centered in a heavily populated area.

A Dec. 26 earthquake with a magnitude estimated at 9.1 to 9.3 and the subsequent tsunami killed more than 131,000 people in Indonesia and left half a million homeless.

--

[Ronin]

It was definitely spooky. I was sitting at a table and watching a glass half full of water jump and vibrate all the way off.

There has been a number of very strong quakes in the past several months. I am thinking it is time to get my fanny out of Tokyo -- or at least out of the Shitamachi area where I work.

[oceanperch]

You just sat at the table watching the water glass shake off and fall?

LOL You must have nerves of steel or are one laid back dude/dudette.

[oceanperch]

The moon is over going for full mode,
where is Lijahbubbe?

[WestVirginiaRebel]

I guess if you stayed, you could be in deep Shitamachi.

[little jeremiah]

BTW, OP, I've noticed (and my better half has also noticed) that the last few days some animals around here have been acting strange. I've read that animals sometimes act funny right before an earthquake. But we've noticed for several days birds keep almost flying into our cars, and cats run across the road narrowly escaping death. Of course, those kinds of things happen occasionally. But the other half of LJ drives two hours a day to and from work, and has never seen so much of it. I've noticed it too.

Could be absolutely nothing. But keep your eye out! Don't want you and KV to be caught unawares. We know this part of the NW could get a big one.

[bd476]

Little Jeremiah wrote: "BTW, OP, I've noticed (and my better half has also noticed) that the last few days some animals around here have been acting strange."

Hopefully it's from the hot weather we've been having:

Tonight, a bear versus a car on the Golden State Freeway near Castaic

Mountain lions wandering into backyards, Monrovia

[Ronin]

I thought about jumping up and screaming like an idiot, but decided that it wouldn't help matters much. Then I thought that maybe I should run into the bathroom because that is supposedly the strongest room.

By the time I had pretty much decided I should get out of the building and into the vacant lot across the street, the quake had stoppped.

It does seem like we are having more and stronger quakes these last few months.

[bd476]

Thank you Ernest.