BREAKING: Earthquake (Strong) Tokyo

[doxieone]

CNN

No link yet.

(EDIT)

M5.4 quake rattles Ibaraki

Not exactly strong.

[RPM]

1. feh - only 5.4....

so says CNN TV

On edit - the story immediately following the earthquake mention was Jacko getting sick - back to "real news"

[merwin]

2. But how deep was it? 5.4 can be decently strong if it's not very deep.

[doxieone]

3. Yea...b ut...

But too early to say total effect.

Miles used the word "strong earthquake."

[rsmith6621]

Miles Obrien should Resign

5.4 is light if you live on the West coast.......

[Coastie for Truth]

12. Also light if you live in Japan

But they do shut down the subways and bullet train and physically walk the tracks.

And everybody is walking around with those little natural gas detectors (that's the big worry in Tokyo)

And, the pull the fire trucks and ambulances out into the street and park them there (so they won't be trapped in the fire station by a building collapse).

[LSparkle]

19. Yeah .. try living through a 6.5

Northridge literally knocked me off my feet. However, if the ground isn't very solid (liquifaction), even a 5.4 can shake things up a bit and could go on for a while. Agree about Miles O'Brien, though.

[BrightKnight]

7. 25 miles underground in Ibaraki ... north of the Japanese capital

"There were no immediate reports of injuries or damage."

"The focus of the quake was 25 miles underground in Ibaraki prefecture, north of the Japanese capital, the Japan Meteorological Agency said."

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6975359/

[allemand]

4. EASTERN HONSHU, JAPAN mb=5.6 2005/02/15 19:46:32 36.1 N 139.7 E

http://www.gfz-potsdam.de/geofon/alerts/ev050215195730/

[Tempest]

5. Remember one thing

Under the new rating system of determining earthquakes, a 5.4 quake today is equivalent to a 7-point-something under the old rating system.

For example, the 1964 earthquake in Alaska was rated a 6.9 back then. Today it would have registered as an 8.4 quake.

[kwassa]

8. They've changed the Richter Scale ?????

5.4 is common in Southern California.

I used to be able to guess the difference by the amoung of shaking.

[spinbaby]

10. I don't think they changed the Richter scale

But there is a newer scale called the Modified Mercalli Scale
of Earthquake Intensity. Not sure how it compares, though.

[LSparkle]

20. Mercalli rates based on physical damage, I, II, III, IV, etc.

Don't think it goes much higher than V or VI.

[Tempest]

11. Changed it years ago

The original scale measured physical movement. It was changed to measure body wave movement.

5.4 earthquakes in California are not common. 3.0 to 4.0 ones are.

http://www.earthwaves.org/history.html

[kwassa]

15. On the Richter Scale they are common, define your terms!

I lived through a lot of them, including the 6.7 Northridge quake in 1994 that knocked down my local freeway, among many other things. I lived through many 5+ quakes.

We are talking apples and oranges, of course.

[Tempest]

16. ???

I provided a cite which shows all the earthquakes in California over 4.5 since 1971, and the cite shows that 5.4 earthquakes were not as common as you implied.


I don't understand your apples and oranges statement.

[bananas]

21. That list you linked to is extremely incomplete

That list you linked to is extremely incomplete.
It appears to be a list of "named" earthquakes,
not all earthquakes larger than magnitude 4.5.
Mag 5 quakes are very common in California:

"Each year, California generally gets two or three earthquakes large enough to cause moderate damage to structures (magnitude 5.5 and higher)."

http://www.consrv.ca.gov/index/Earthquakes/qh_earthquakes.htm

"How often do earthquakes happen? The National Earthquake Information Center (U.S.) reports 12,000-14,000 earthquakes a year around the world, or 35 a day. Throughout the world, there are one "great" (magnitude 8.0 or more), 18 "major" (7.0-7.9), 120 "large" (6.0-6.9) and 1,000 "moderate" (5.0-5.9) earthquakes in an average year. Each year, California generally gets two or three earthquakes large enough to cause moderate damage to structures (magnitude 5.5 and higher)."

[kwassa]

24. Thanks for the cite

I know that I have personally lived through a fair number of 5+ quakes in the 17 years I lived there.

[smirkymonkey]

17. When did it change?

in the recent past?

[htuttle]

6. Rinji news o moshiagemasu!

Rinji news o moshiagemasu!
Godzilla ga ginza hoomen e mukatte imasu!
Daishkyu hinan shite kudasai!
Daishkyu hinan shite kudasai!

On a serious note, I hope (as always) that there aren't any injuries.

[Bonobo]

9. Very funny, but Ginza isn't as kool as it used to be.

[yinkaafrica]

13. Not another Godzilla cover up!

[Lydia Leftcoast]

14. 5.4? That's all?

You had me worried there for a moment. Your headline sounded as if there was another Kobe earthquake or worse. However, the Kanto Plain area 5.4s all the time.

Art_from_Ark lives in Ibaraki prefecture, so perhaps he'll have further news.

[Ian David]

18. The Earthquake was a 2.0 on The Kinsey Scale

Mostly stable with incidental tectonic activity.

Seriously though, I'm glad nobody was hurt.

Also, could this sort of quake cause a tsunami?

Do we have resources in place to warn people if it does?

[Lydia Leftcoast]

22. Japan and tsunami

I'm not a geologist, so I don't know whether an earthquake in that part of Japan could cause a tsunami, but I do know from having seen earthquake reports on Japanese TV that the standard procedure is a subtitle saying something like

"An earthquake has been felt in the XX region. The estimated strength is 5.4. Areas on the YY coast are asked to be on the alert for a tsunami of 1 meter."

(Not all tsunami are killer waves. Some are small.)

The last killer wave in Japan was caused by the massive Chilean earthquake of 1960. It kiled about 300 people. According to the Japanese news report I saw on the International Channel, this tsunami motivated the Japanese government to set up a tsunami warning system. The commentator said that nowadays, everyone would have been evacuated in time for a tsunami like the 1960 event, because it struck a relatively unpopulated stretch of coastline 29 hours after the Chilean earthquake.

[Ian David]

23. That's comforting, thanks!