Posted on 10/23/2004 3:46:05 AM PDT by Strategerist
TOKYO (Reuters) - A strong earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 6.8 and several big aftershocks have rocked northern Japan, killing at least one person, partially derailing a train, triggering landslides and knocking out electricity supplies, media reports say.
The focus of the initial quake, which struck at around 5:56 p.m. (9:56 a.m. British time), was 20 km deep in Niigata prefecture, some 250 km (150 miles) north of Tokyo.
The jolts, including aftershocks of magnitude up to 6.3, were also felt strongly in the capital.
At least one person had died, Kyodo news agency reported. Other media reported that several people had been injured.
A bullet train had derailed in Niigata and an expressway had partially collapsed, media reports said.
National broadcaster NHK said two cars of the bullet train had derailed but that there were no injuries. A railway official said he was still checking on the derailment reports.
NHK also said a landslide had buried three cars.
Japan has been hit by a record 10 typhoons this year, and officials said they were worried about more landslides in areas lashed recently by the heavy rains.
No tsunami warning was issued but several people were hurt when they were hit by objects that fell from shelves and some of bullet trains were halted, NHK said.
Private broadcaster Asahi TV said some 25,000 homes in the areas were without power. Traffic lights had gone out in the regional capital of Niigata City, NHK television showed.
Authorities were receiving calls from residents who said water and gas mains had been ruptured.
The quakes measured 6 on the Japanese scale in many parts of Niigata, meaning it would be difficult to keep standing.
The Japanese scale runs as high as seven.
Japan is one of the world's most seismically active areas, with an earthquake occurring every five minutes.
The country accounts for about 20 percent of the world's earthquakes of magnitude six or greater.
Memories are still vivid of the earthquake in the western city of Kobe which killed more than 6,400 people in 1995. That quake measured 7.2 on the Richter scale.
The last quake of 8.0 or higher in Japan was in 1994.
This one was on land, not offshore. Shallower than the Kobe earthquake and of similar magnitude.
Could be really bad; the foreign media is in Tokyo, this area is on the Sea of Japan a good distance away, so the reports are of pretty poor quality.
Oddly happened to notice this one on the Mount Saint Helens webicorders a good 10 minutes before even Red Puma had a prelim solution.
These were pretty bad. At my place of business in Tokyo the shocks were pretty scary. There are a lot o reports of damage. Trains are stopped. There was another after-shock just a couple of minutes ago.
Not like I stare at webicorders a lot but I was up because of some indigestion and happened to just check on some of the graphs near Mt. St. Helens.....saw the trace, then looked at some other webicorders around the US and saw the same thing....knew there had been a big one somewhere in the world, fairly distant from the US, but didn't know where.....sort of weird waiting to find out where it was for a good 10 minutes.
There was a much larger quake near Niigata in 1964, but it was offshore. It produced a lot of liquefaction damage there (the famous pics of apartment buildings lying on their sides.)
I have a feeling this was really terrible around there but the news reports really haven't filtered through.
NHK is showing a few surveillance camera shots where the camera is obviously shaking (not sure where they were taken, though, because my Japanese comprehension is not that good). The shots that they showed did not look particularly severe (people at a crosswalk apparently do not have difficulty walking, standing, or running), but maybe those images are from a hundred miles away. They are now showing shots of what looks like damage to a highway tunnel, damage to the face of a building (large vertical sign fell off), ceiling collapse in what looks like a workshop or small factory of some sort, etc. which may be from Niigata.
Wow this is happening right now for you?
Stay safe. Prayer Bump.
Yeah I just checked the USGS before getting ready to go to sleep and then poked my head back in FR, uhg, but nothing on the world report at the USGS site yet.
WHat kind of damage?
Our buildings earthquake code there?
http://earthquake.usgs.gov/eqinthenews/2004/uspyal/
NEIC location map doesn't quite jibe with the text location; I think the map is correct, as it matches the Japanese statement of the epicenter (which actually is closer to Nagaoka city than Niigata.)
Japan has the strongest earthquake codes in the world, but there are still lots of older buildings and they got a big shock in 1995 in the Kobe quake from all the destruction; they had gotten a bit smug and overconfident about their codes and preparation, and then got socked with 5,000 killed and 200 billion dollars in damage.
Three different waves over and under six on the Japanese scale. A wall fell on a man and killed him. Top story on evening news. Slight tremor in Tokyo.
I just went back and see it is up now.
Thanks.
Prayer for safety bump.
Big Earthquake ping.
About 4 in a row.
I am sure you have the site if not look up a couple of posts for a link.
Ronin a Freeper is there right now.
Look at all of them.
Earthquake Hazards Program: NEIC: Worldwide Earthquake Activity in the Last Seven Days
Address:http://neic.usgs.gov/neis/bulletin/ Changed:4:33 AM on Saturday, October 23, 2004
Good map. THanks.
5,000 I never knew it was that devastating.
I know nothing about locations but hoping these are hitting in a non populated/big city area.
Strategerist, thanks for posting this.
Ronin stay safe and prayers sent up for the safety of you, your friends, family and co-workers.
Everybody felt it.... a moment of eerie silence...........a low rumble and then the ground began to shake. Buildings swayed and buckled and then collapsed like a house of cards. Less than 4 minutes later over 30,000 were dead from an 8.2 earthquake that rocked and nearly flattened Armenia in 1989.
In the muddled chaos a distressed father bolted through the winding streets leading to the school where his son had gone earlier that morning.
The man could not stop thinking about the promise he had given his son many times.
"No matter what happens Armand, I'll always be there." Well he reached the site where his sons school had been but saw only a pile of rubble. He just stood there at first fighting back tears....and then took off stumbling over debris running toward the east corner where he knew his sons classroom had been.
With nothing but his bare hands he started digging, desperately pulling bricks and pieces of wall plaster. While others just stood by watching in forlorn disbelief, he even heard someone growl, "Forget it mister they're all dead" He looked up flustered and replied, " You can grumble or you can help me lift these bricks" but only a few pitched in, and most of them gave up once their muscles began to ache. But the man couldn't stop thinking about his son, so he kept digging and digging....... for hours and hours.
12 hours went by..... 18 hours..... 24 hours..... 36 hours......... and finally into the 38th hour he heard a muffled groan from under a piece of wallboard. The man grabbed the board, pulled it back and cried, "Armand!" and from the darkness came a slight, shaking voice, "Papa?" Other weak voices began calling out as the young survivors stirred beneath the still uncleared rubble. Gasps and shouts of bewildered relief came from a few onlookers and parents who remained.
They found 14 of the 33 students still alive. When Armand finally emerged he tried to help dig until all his surviving classmates were out. Everybody standing there heard him as he turned to his friends and said, "See I told you my father wouldn't forget us." We have a Father like that....-
Dr. Scott Hahn….from his book "A Father who keeps His promises."
cool Dad story
My family and I were shopping at Costco in Kanazawa (just south of Yokohama) when the quake hit. Because the building is reinforced well with concrete, we didn't notice much other than the lights swaying back-and-forth. When we got home though several pictures on the wall were cockeyed and others on bookshelves were overturned.
Re: the recent rash of typhoons has set a record for the year and there is little relief in sight. Typhoon Tokage just ripped through this past Wednesday night and Typhoon Nock-Ten is projected to slam Taiwan and Okinawa in a few days. Sheesh!
A good link that we rely upon here for typhoon info is here: http://www.npmoc.navy.mil/jtwc.html
Cheers from the Far East.
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