7.4-magnitude earthquake hits western Japan, tsunami warnings in effect

Well, that parking lot-shaking video you posted, Janet, was pretty remarkable.

And it's a great testament to how excellent the earthquake protection in modern buildings (and multi-story parking lots) is here in Nippon.

I was sitting in our apartment an hour north of Tokyo at the time of the quake. And my apartment building jiggled silently for about 25 seconds.

Ichikawa province on the northern Japan Sea side of Honshu is where the 7.6 earthquake hit is about 70 miles northwest of us as an eagle flies. We felt the quake even though a tall mountain range -- the Japan Alps -- separates us from the country's central provinces to the north.

Much of the safety of the country comes from its excellent preparation for earthquakes due to stringent building codes. The Tokyo Skytree digital TV broadcast tower (6 football fields tall) was designed with special dampers to absorb 50% of an earthquake's energy.

Even still, the damage from this quake is substantial in Ichikawa -- see the pictures here.

Of course, a repeat of the 2011 Tohoku Earthquake and Tsunami is what people fear most. The death toll from that disaster was about 20,000 lives.

Indeed, that March 11th, 2011 extreme earthquake was caused by a huge tectonic plate shift in the ocean east of Honshu, was of a magnitude the Earth experiences only 3 times a century. Note: a nice explanation of the Richter scale measurement of earthquakes is on Wikipedia.

One excellent practice here that saves lives is that communications and television emergency warnings appear on the screens only seconds after an earthquake hits.

And based the science, predictions are immediately released on where tsunami waves are expected and the likely height of the waves.

Yesterday -- all day long -- a corner of the television screen was reserved for warning signs and emergency instruction. What earthquake watchers worry about are aftershocks. Indeed, the huge 2011 quake that caused the great tsunami was preceded two days earlier by a very strong earthquake.

So we probably won't know for days what the end result of this quake/tsunami will be. Better stay on alert.

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