Strong Earthquake Hits Japan; No Injuries

Yahoo! News (AP) ^ | 10/19/2005 | n/a

[Pyro7480]

Strong Earthquake Hits Japan; No Injuries

TOKYO - A strong earthquake rocked eastern Japan late Wednesday, shaking buildings in Tokyo and nearby areas, but there was no immediate report of injuries or damage.

The earthquake, with a preliminary magnitude of 6.5, was centered 24 miles below the sea off the coast of Ibaraki prefecture, the U.S. Geological Survey said. Japan's meteorological agency earlier put the magnitude at 6.2 from the quake, which hit at 8:50 p.m. (7:50 a.m. EDT). There was no danger of tsunami, it added.

Runways at Tokyo's Narita airport closed temporarily but later reopened, Kyodo News agency said. Bullet train service north of Tokyo also was suspended but quickly resumed.

A nuclear power plant in Tokaimura near the quake zone had shut down automatically, according to national broadcaster NHK.

The quake also shook buildings in Ibaraki, Chiba and Fukushima prefectures.

Japan is one of the world's most earthquake-prone countries because it sits atop four tectonic plates. Since the late 1970s, the government has taken measures to strengthen its monitoring of seismic activity, and to coordinate steps with local governments on how to cope with earthquakes.

On Oct. 23, 2004, a 6.8-magnitude earthquake hit northern Japan, killing 40 people and damaging more than 6,000 homes. It was the deadliest to hit Japan since 1995, when a magnitude-7.2 quake killed 6,433 people in the western city of Kobe.

[Pyro7480]

Magnitude 6.5 - NEAR THE EAST COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN 2005 October 19 11:44:43 UTC

[gwjack]

Thanks for posting this article. My daughter is in Ibaraki as a college student this semester. She called me within ten minutes of it happening this morning/evening. She was excited as we don't get to experience quakes in Oklahoma. She slept through the one on Sunday.

I assured her that it was a serious matter, and nothing in which to take delight.

Having already confessed my ignorance about earthquakes, is there anything noteworthy about the two so close together? Can an aftershock (6.5) be larger than the original (5.1)?The one today lasted approximately 1 minute she said.

Gwjack

[John O]

Strong earthquake hits Japan, a non-moslem country, and no one dies. Strong earthquake hits pakistan, a moslem country, and tens of thousands die.

So why is islam supposed to be so good again?

[Eric in the Ozarks]

Don't know if the quakes were related but when we lived in Yokohama, these happened at the rate of two or three little ones a month and one or two big "up and down" potential window breakers each year.
When electric streetcars ran down the middle of the street, I recall watching one of these cars jump off the track with a shower of sparks from overhead power lines right in front of our house. The streetcar company's wrecker truck showed up and lifted the front of the streetcar back on its rails in about an hour.

[bkwells]

Ping!

[SirLinksalot]

I remember a quake of the same magnitude hitting Iran just a few years ago. In that quake, hundreds of houses collapsed and thousands died.

In Japan, no major building or house collapsed, and NO ONE DIED or was hurt.

This is the difference between an advanced and well developed country and a primitive one.

[Dont_Tread_On_Me_888]

Strong Earthquake Hits Japan; No Injuries

Well then it wasn't really strong then, now was it.

The dumbing-down of the school system continues.

[Eric in the Ozarks]

Wasn't always this way in Japan. We lived there in the 1950s and buildings did fall down.

[COEXERJ145]

Strong earthquake hits Japan, a non-moslem country, and no one dies. Strong earthquake hits pakistan, a moslem country, and tens of thousands die.

So why is islam supposed to be so good again?

Nothing whatsoever to do with religion. Japan has strict building codes to reduce the amount of damage and deaths from earthquakes. Pakistan did not.

Just remember that when the tsunami hit parts of Indonesia, many times the mosques were the only buildings left standing because they were the only ones built strong enough to resist the force of the tsunami.

[Question_Assumptions]

When I was living in Tokyo, I was sitting in my house one day watching TV with a guy who had grown in in Hawaii and California and lived in Tokyo for many years. The house start shaking lightly and I didn't think anything of it (because they had been doing construction behind us, which sometimes shook the hosue a bit). He ran for the nearest door frame, at which point I realized, "Oh! Earthquake!" and followed him. There was nothing big while I was there but I suspect that if a really big one hits Tokyo directly, it will be far worse than the government there expects it to be.

[gaijin]

She's in Tsukuba, right? Or Mito?

[bd476]

Earthquake Ping List. Please send a Freepmail if you want to be added to or removed from this list.

[bd476]

Magnitude 6.4 - Near the East Coast of Honshu, Japan

2005 October 19 11:44:43 UTC
at 07:44:43 AM (EDT) - (New York, Toronto)
at 06:44:43 AM (EST) - (Indianapolis, Jamaica)
at 06:44:43 AM (CDT) - (Chicago, Mexico City)
at 05:44:43 AM (CST) - (Regina, Guatemala)
at 05:44:43 AM (MDT) - (Denver, Calgary, Mazatlan)
at 04:44:43 AM (MST) - (Phoenix)
at 04:44:43 AM (PDT) - (Los Angeles, Vancouver, Tijuana)
at 03:44:43 AM (AKDT) - Alaska Daylight (Anchorage)
at 02:44:43 AM (AHDT) - Aleutian Daylight (Adak)
at 01:44:43 AM (HST) - Hawaii Standard (Honolulu)

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

A strong earthquake occurred at 11:44:43 (UTC) on Wednesday, October 19, 2005. The magnitude 6.4 event has been located in near the East Coast of Honshu, Japan. (This event has been reviewed by a seismologist.)

• Magnitude 6.4
• Date-Time Wednesday, October 19, 2005 at 11:44:43 (UTC) = Coordinated Universal Time
• Wednesday, October 19, 2005 at 8:44:43 PM = local time at epicenter
• Location 36.397°N, 140.851°E
• Depth 37.2 km (23.1 miles) set by location program
• Region Near the East Coast of Honshu, Japan
  
  Distances
  
  

  35 km (20 miles) E of Mito, Honshu, Japan
  75 km (45 miles) S of Iwaki, Honshu, Japan
  130 km (80 miles) NE of TOKYO, Japan
  150 km (95 miles) SSE of Fukushima, Honshu, Japan
  
  
  

[bd476]

Thanks for the ping, BK. :-)

[bd476]

Seismicity in 2005

[Darksheare]

A 6.4 near the coast, and no chancec of a tsunami.
Must be because there wasn't any seafloor slumping or anything like that to cause a tsunami.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Thanks for the ping....Pakistan has had some more sizable aftershocks;

Death Toll in Asian Quake Passes 79,000 ~~ Oct. 8 2005 disaster in Pakistani & Kashmir...

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

The new numbers come as two strong aftershocks jolted the devastated region, unleashing landslides and setting off another wave of panic among survivors who lost loved ones and homes in the Oct. 8 disaster.

[oceanperch]

You will never guess what the happen here on the coast today.

We had an emergency broadcast on tv that interupted telivised programming to Announce a 7.4 Earthquake of the Coast of Eureka and warning for Tsunami to his the ORegon and Wash. Coast.

THEY FORGOT TO SAY THIS IS A TEST!

That went on for about 45 min every 5 min untill somebody obviosly got word and then they followed in the next hour saying the previous message was only a test.

COME ON!
Fortunetly we had our NOAA radio on that was saying TEST AFTER the message.

Then it came over our scanner from 911 dispatch to all units that the Tsunami warning was only a test.

Folks went nut thinking there was a Tsunami coming because the idiots doing the TV drill forgot to say this is a TEST.

I think we need to get tax refunds or start drug testing the powers that be.

[M. Espinola]

Thanks for keeping the list updated concerning this latest strong jolt. This one was 80 miles NE of Tokyo.

[GATOR NAVY]

See post #6.