Magnitude 6.8 quake shakes buildings
in Tokyo; tsunami warning issued
Canadian Press
Tuesday, August 16, 2005
Documents are scattered on the floor of the
Kyodo News Agency's bureau in Sendai in
Miyagi Prefecture shortly after a magnitude-6.8
earthquake hit northern Japan, shaking buildings
as far away as Tokyo.
(AP Photo/Kyodo News)
TOKYO (AP) - A strong earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 6.8 struck the northeast coast of Japan on Tuesday, triggering a tsunami warning and shaking buildings more than 300 kilometres away in Tokyo, the Meteorological Agency said.
Eighty people were injured when the roof of an indoor pool collapsed in the coastal city of Sendai, the national broadcaster NHK reported. None of the injuries was critical, according to the Kyodo News Agency, which also reported two people injured in the neighbouring state of Iwata.
Bullet train service was suspended in northern Japan, while Tokyo's Haneda airport temporarily halted flights, Kyodo said.
A 10-centimetre tsunami reached the Japanese shore about 15 minutes after the quake struck, NHK said, with no major damage immediately reported. While a tsunami can rise to great heights when it arrives at the shore, such waves are often barely noticeable in the ocean.
The quake was centred nearly 20 kilometres beneath the ocean off the coast of Miyagi state in northeastern Japan, NHK said. The quake hit around 11:46 a.m. local time.
The U.S. Geological Survey registered the quake with a 7.2 magnitude.
Japan sits at the juncture of four tectonic plates - or moving slabs of the earth's outer crust - and is one of the world's most quake-prone regions.
Earlier in the day, a 4.9 magnitude earthquake shook Japan's northern island of Hokkaido. There was no danger of a tsunami in that one.
A magnitude-6.0 quake shook the Tokyo area July 23, injuring more than two dozen people and suspending flights and trains for hours. A magnitude-5 quake can damage homes and other buildings if it is centred in a heavily populated area.
A Dec. 26 earthquake with a magnitude estimated at 9.1 to 9.3 and the subsequent tsunami killed more than 131,000 people in Indonesia and left half a million homeless. Three months later, another strong temblor left more than 900 dead on Nias and smaller surrounding islands.
Canada.com
From the Vegas SUN:
********************************
Today: August 15, 2005 at 23:20:24 PDT
27 Reported Injured in Japan Earthquake
By HIROKO TABUCHI
ASSOCIATED PRESS
TOKYO (AP) -
A powerful magnitude-7.2 earthquake struck northeastern Japan on Tuesday, triggering two small tsunamis and shaking skyscrapers as far away as Tokyo, 185 miles to the south. At least 27 people were reported injured.
A caved-in roof at an indoor pool in the coastal city of Sendai injured 14 people, national broadcaster NHK reported. Others in the quake zone were hurt by falling rocks and tumbling roof tiles.
Television footage showed a collapsed house outside Tokyo and landslides in the quake-hit area.
"The horizontal shaking was very strong, so much so that I almost couldn't remain standing," said Masami Oshima, an official with Miyagi state, which includes Sendai.
Kyodo News said there were preliminary reports of 27 people injured; it was not clear if that number included those injured in the roof collapse.
The quake knocked out power to about 17,000 households, while bullet train services in northern Japan were suspended and flights were temporarily grounded at Tokyo's Haneda airport.
The quake hit around 11:46 a.m. and was centered 12 below the ocean floor about 50 miles off the coast of Miyagi in northeastern Japan, the Meteorological Agency said.
Two tsunamis that were originally forecast to be 20 inches in height hit the coast with 4-inch waves; officials expected little damage. Tsunami waves are often barely noticeable in the ocean but can rise to great heights once they arrive at shore.
The quake was followed by at least four aftershocks and additional quakes of up to magnitude 6 could follow, the agency said.
In 1995, a magnitude-7.3 quake in the western port city of Kobe killed 6,400 people. The depth and offshore location of Tuesday's quake helped limit the damage that might have occurred had the earthquake been centered under a city.
One person injured in the roof collapse was seriously hurt, NHK said. Separately, a 72-year-old man sustained a broken leg, news reports said, while a 7-year-old child was injured by falling rocks in the town of Zao, according to local official Mitsuharu Shishido.
The U.S. Geological Survey and Japan's Meteorological Agency both measured the quake at a magnitude of 7.2.
Japan sits at the juncture of four tectonic plates - or moving slabs of the earth's outer crust - and is one of the world's most quake-prone regions. A magnitude-6.0 quake shook the Tokyo area on July 23, injuring more than two dozen people and suspending flights and trains for hours. A magnitude-5 quake can damage homes and other buildings if it is centered in a heavily populated area.
A Dec. 26 earthquake with a magnitude estimated at 9.1 to 9.3 and the subsequent tsunami killed more than 131,000 people in Indonesia and left half a million homeless.
--