Earthquake rocks Japan

[Barb]

From abcnews.com:

TOKYO Aug 15, 2005 — 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 nearly 200 miles away in Tokyo, the nation's 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 neighboring prefecture of Iwata.

A 4-inch 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 U.S. Geological Survey registered the quake with a 7.2 magnitude.

The quake was centered nearly 13 miles beneath the ocean off the coast of Miyagi prefecture in northeastern Japan, NHK said, citing the nation's Meteorological Agency. The quake hit around 11:46 a.m. local time.

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 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.

Fortunately, no large tsunami. But that was a fairly major quake.

 

[Blackjack Gabbiani]

A FOUR-INCH tsunami? How the heck can they TELL?

 

[Barb]

Evidently, they've got a yardstick planted off shore or something. Maybe it's an estimate.

 

[BookThrower]

Are they Okay over there.

 

[Zhen Lin]

Only 62 injured as of 10PM JST, according to the news.

I think, we may as well write off the lost AG101 as never-to-see-the-light-of-day-in-Japan-ever now.