Posted on 07/15/2007 7:47:30 PM PDT by traumer
A strong earthquake has hit north-western Japan, triggering small tsunami waves, officials say.
The quake of preliminary magnitude 6.6 struck off the coast of Niigata, some 260km (160 miles) north-west of Tokyo, Japan's meteorological agency says.
It says waves up 50cm (20 inches) high were reported to have hit the coast.
The tremor - which hit the country at 0113 GMT - also swayed buildings in Tokyo. So far there have been no reports of any injuries or damage.
A tsunami warning was issued, but it was later lifted.
Earthquakes are common in Japan, which is situated in one of the world's most seismically active areas, and the country regularly holds safety drills.
In October 2004, an earthquake with a magnitude of 6.8 struck Niigata, killing 65 people, and in 1995 a magnitude 7.2 tremor killed more than 6,400 in Kobe.
Earthquakes today , typhoons yesterday ...business as usual here in sushiland ...
Any word of any damage in Tokyo? Or any fears of a nuclear issue with the smoke seen coming from a reactor?
Godzilla alert
Children and minorities hardest hit...
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070716/ap_on_re_as/japan_quake;_ylt=AgOCNJIPckh6noy8DVtiSqlvaA8F
TOKYO - A strong earthquake jolted northwestern Japan on Monday morning and caused buildings in the capital Tokyo to sway. The Meteorological Agency said small tsunamis as high as 20 inches were believed to have hit coasts in the area.
Three nuclear reactors in the region automatically stopped, and an electrical fire was reported at one, public broadcaster NHK said. Black smoke was seen billowing from the reactor as the fire burned.
The quake had a magnitude of 6.7, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. It was centered off the coast of the prefecture (state) of Niigata, the Meteorological Agency said in a statement.
I am not an expert... What do the orange squares signify?
The typhoon was thankfully a ‘wash’ where I live. Funny thing, yesterday during the storm I was thinking back to my growing up in California, and how we could sense “earthquake weather” - warm and dry with an eerie calm, even if windy. I wondered if like SoCal, Japan’s earthquakes and rain don’t cohabitate. Well, it did dry out first. :-D
The size of the orange square is for anything six and over.
Just watching NHK news . Tokyo was 3-4 on Japanese scale . No problem . Electrical fire at nuclear plant . No worries there .
Glad you escaped any bad weather. Strange that you were thinking about earthquakes yesterday. Or is it? ;)
YAWN...!
The size of the orange square is for anything six and over.
Orange means within the last 24 hours. Yellow is within the last week, Red is within the last hour. Size of the square relates to magnitude.
See the key here:
http://earthquake.usgs.gov/eqcenter/recenteqsww/Maps/region/Asia.php
I experienced countless 4.0-6.0 earth tremors when I lived in Alaska. You wake up because the bed is shaking and the house is rumbling and you think “now what?” Then it was over, thankfully. Never, EVER got used to it though.
Kinda like coming face-to-face with a shark - its just visceral (face-to face with lawyers too!).
apparently, the nuclear plant is leaking water (according to drudge headline).
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