[HAL9000]

AFP via Babelfish -

ALARM - Strong seism in the south of Japan, alerts with the tsunami

TOKYO - a strong seism shook Sunday morning the island of Kyushu, in the south of Japan, and an alarm with the tsunami was launched, announced the Japanese media.

(AFP/March 20, 2005 03h01)

[Jay Howard Smith]

Yessir..!....Felt it here in ChongDoKun, South Korea (Southeast of Taegu).

[LikeLight]

Keep us posted.

[freedumb2003]

How do you pronounce that?

Seriously, hope all is well.

[RedBloodedAmerican]

I felt it.

[festus]

Fuk u ok a

Not until you buy me dinner....... ;-)

[bd476]

Please let us know, hope you and yours are okay.

[ken21]

i love earthquakes!

[Bahbah]

Where is the Secretary of State?

[Wiz]

That is where Sasebo US Navy Base is located. Is everybody OK?

[Vn_survivor_67-68]

this was published within the last 2 or 3 hrs......prior to the event you describe....ironic.

http://www.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/getarticle.pl5?fl20050320x3.htm

Quake amateurs shake skeptical pros

By ERIC PRIDEAUX
Staff writer

With surprisingly little fanfare, the Japan Meteorological Agency, which keeps tabs on tens of thousands of earthquakes a year, has been setting up a network of ultra-sensitive electronic motion detectors that will pick up on the kind of minute seismic quivering that heralds a major quake.......snipped

[plewis1250]

Here is the quake report: http://earthquake.usgs.gov/recenteqsww/Quakes/at00000311.htm

[plewis1250]

Map:

[Thinkin' Gal]

TSUNAMI BULLETIN NUMBER 001
PACIFIC TSUNAMI WARNING CENTER/NOAA/NWS
ISSUED AT 0219Z 20 MAR 2005

THIS BULLETIN IS FOR ALL AREAS OF THE PACIFIC BASIN EXCEPT
ALASKA - BRITISH COLUMBIA - WASHINGTON - OREGON - CALIFORNIA.

... TSUNAMI INFORMATION BULLETIN ...

THIS MESSAGE IS FOR INFORMATION ONLY. THERE IS NO TSUNAMI WARNING
OR WATCH IN EFFECT.

AN EARTHQUAKE HAS OCCURRED WITH THESE PRELIMINARY PARAMETERS

ORIGIN TIME - 0154Z 20 MAR 2005
COORDINATES - 34.0 NORTH 130.1 EAST
LOCATION - WESTERN HONSHU JAPAN
MAGNITUDE - 6.7

EVALUATION

THIS EARTHQUAKE IS LOCATED OUTSIDE THE PACIFIC. NO TSUNAMI THREAT
EXISTS TO COASTLINES IN THE PACIFIC.

HOWEVER - EARTHQUAKES OF THIS SIZE SOMETIMES GENERATE LOCAL
TSUNAMIS THAT CAN BE DESTRUCTIVE ALONG COASTS LOCATED WITHIN
A FEW HUNDRED KILOMETERS OF THE EARTHQUAKE EPICENTER. AUTHORITIES
IN THE REGION OF THE EPICENTER SHOULD BE AWARE OF THIS
POSSIBILITY AND TAKE APPROPRIATE ACTION.

THIS CENTER DOES NOT HAVE SEA LEVEL GAUGES OUTSIDE THE PACIFIC
SO WILL NOT BE ABLE TO DETECT OR MEASURE A TSUNAMI IF ONE WAS
GENERATED. AUTHORITIES CAN ASSUME THE DANGER HAS PASSED IF NO
TSUNAMI WAVES ARE OBSERVED NEAR THE EPICENTER WITHIN AN HOUR OF
THE EARTHQUAKE.

THIS WILL BE THE ONLY BULLETIN ISSUED FOR THIS EVENT UNLESS
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION BECOMES AVAILABLE.

THE WEST COAST/ALASKA TSUNAMI WARNING CENTER WILL ISSUE BULLETINS
FOR ALASKA - BRITISH COLUMBIA - WASHINGTON - OREGON - CALIFORNIA.

http://www.prh.noaa.gov/ptwc/wmsg

[bd476]

Local news in California report it as being a 7.0+ - this is the latest from USGS:

Magnitude 6.7 - KOREA STRAIT
2005 March 20 01:53:46 UTC

Preliminary Earthquake Report
West Coast and Alaska Tsunami Warning Center/NOAA/NWS

A strong earthquake occurred at 01:53:46 (UTC) on Sunday, March 20, 2005. The magnitude 6.7 event has been located in KOREA STRAIT. (This event has been reviewed by a seismologist.)

Magnitude	6.7
Date-Time	Sunday, March 20, 2005 at 01:53:46 (UTC) = Coordinated Universal Time Sunday, March 20, 2005 at 10:53:46 AM = local time at epicenter
Location	34.000°N, 130.100°E
Depth	40 km (24.9 miles) set by location program
Region	KOREA STRAIT
Distances	45 km (28 miles) NNW (329°) from Fukuoka, Kyushu, Japan 127 km (79 miles) W (262°) from Yamaguchi, Honshu, Japan 135 km (84 miles) N (7°) from Nagasaki, Kyushu, Japan 479 km (298 miles) SE (143°) from SEOUL, South Korea
Location Uncertainty	Error estimate not available
Parameters	Nst=013, Nph=013, Dmin=501.7 km, Rmss=0.64 sec, Gp=140°, M-type=moment magnitude (Mw), Version=1
Source	West Coast and Alaska Tsunami Warning Center/NOAA/NWS
Event ID	at00000311

Location Maps: 10-degree 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. Tsunami Bulletin Archive of newsworthy events

[traumer]

Nothing on FOX, BBC, SkyNews....

[mewzilla]

Click here for some preliminary info on the quake.

[all4one]

Nothing registered yet at the USGS Quake site.

Link to USGS Quake Site

But there have been a few quakes today:

Updated as of Sat Mar 19 22:39:12 UTC 2005.

2005/03/19 - 6.3 Magnitude - FIJI REGION

2005/03/19 - 6.3 Magnitude - TONGA

2005/03/19 - 4.4 Magnitude - RAT ISLANDS, ALEUTIAN ISLANDS

2005/03/19 - 5.3 Magnitude - NORTHERN SUMATRA, INDONESIA

2005/03/19 - 5.4 Magnitude - POTOSI, BOLIVIA

[Graymatter]

Fukuoka hit...Never mind that now! Aruoka?

[RaceBannon]

Seeking high ground I hope!