By Jessica Sinclair on January 1st, 2012 Japan was hit with a 7.0 magnitude earthquake Sunday—The strong quake struck under the sea just south of Japan. According to the USGS, the quake, that was later lowered to a 6.8 magnitude, struck at around 12:30 a.m. near the Izu Islands, south of Japan. The quake had a depth of around 217 miles below the sea and, struck the region 307 miles from Tokyo. According to the Associated Press, the quake reportedly caused no damage but shaking buildings in the capital were reported, trains in the area were suspended temporarily for safety checks but later resumed—Additionally, there were no abnormalities reported at power plants. The quake did not generate a tsunami warning for Japan or the United States. “A strong earthquake has occurred, but a tsunami IS NOT expected along the California, Oregon, Washington, British Columbia, or Alaska coast. NO tsunami warning, watch or advisory is in effect for these areas,†read the West Coast and Alaska Tsunami Warning Center. The earthquake is the first for Japan in 2012. It follows a strong quake this past July and another in March that left thousands dead. In July a 7.0 quake struck Japan’s northeastern coast.The U.S. Geological Survey estimated a 7.0 magnitude earthquake with a depth of 10 kilometers. Japan’s Meteorological agency increased the magnitude to a 7.3 magnitude and the depth to 30 kilometers. The earthquake caused a tsunami warning. Officials urged residents to stay away from the coast and prepare for possible dangerous waves. Japanese officials reportedly predicted the quake could generate tsunami of up to 20 inches. The tsunami warning was later lifted. In March, a devastating earthquake and subsequent tsunami that hit the same region left over 20,000 people dead and missing. from here USGS being US Geological Survey, I believe.
God, way to start the new year huh? Thankfully there were not significant damages. Let's hope nothing worse will follow.
man, I really hope this is not the start of something to come for those guys. They just did not get lucky in the placement of their country
It wasn't a bad quake at all, not with that depth. No trains or anything were stopped and no buildings were damaged, remember that Japan is used to earthquakes and that US news services tend to exaggerate details on things like this because of translation. Might've been a high magnitude but because of the depth it was completely harmless. Not really something to make a big deal of.
That's kind of mean of you, haha. Anyway, I'm glad the no major damage was done. I agree. It's like the Electric Soldier Porygon episode of Pokémon that got banned. While, yes, it did cause seizures in children, I don't think it was to the extent that they said. They could have kept airing it, as well as translated it for the U.S. viewers -- all they had to do was put a warning on it.
I'm glad it wasn't too serious, poor Japan :( The worlds media may have forgotten about the devastation there, but to the people it's still very real. Some have to rebuild their lives from scratch, and have lost everything they cared about. They don't need anything else on top of that. I'll keep them in my prayers.
