6.8 Magnitude Earthquake in Honshu, Japan

[Tankercow]

TOKYO – A strong earthquake has shaken northern Japan, and regional tsunami advisories have been issued.

The Japan Meteorological Agency said Wednesday evening's earthquake was 6.8 preliminary magnitude off the coast. A tsunami of about a half-meter was expected for Aomori and Iwate prefectures.

http://www.foxnews.com/world/2012/03...sories-issued/





A year and three days ago, a 9.1 magnitude earthquake struck off of Japan's coast. Now decent sized earthquakes are hitting seismic zones daily. Vanuatu was just hit with a 7.1 less than a week ago. Nothing good can come of this...

[Deleted]

6.8 is pretty low.

All the low magnitude earthquakes still happening doesn't mean there'll be another strong one. For all you know there could be an 8.5 earthquake in San Fransisco tomorrow. You can't predict earthquakes.

[Gerti]

6.8 is pretty low.

6.8 isn't pretty low, it's quite powerful.you do feel earthqaukes that are around 2-3.

[Catta]

lots of smaller ones mean that there is less chance of the strong ones because they cant build up enough force though iirc

[Garnik]

Sure the earthquake a year ago was devastating and one of a kind, but Japan have always been a country in an active earthquake zone. Quakes like this is common, it was common before the earthquake a year ago, and will continue to be common in the future.

[Tankercow]

Japan is really rocking tonight. A mag 5.3 just hit seconds ago.

[Kalyyn]

I feel like somebody will make a joke about Godzilla in this thread. I would if I was a more clever man.

Hope they are well prepared. I've never been through an earthquake that did anything more than shift things around a tiny bit, but I imagine a real one is terrifying.

[StayTuned]

6,8 is low for japanese standards. They are used to it... so nothing new here.

[Tankercow]

6,8 is low for japanese standards. They are used to it... so nothing new here.

Hardly low for anyone's standards.

[Deleted]

Yes, heard on the news, it seems Japan might see "tsunamies" of up to half a meter high! Already 10 centimeters "tsunamies" hit Japan. Media crap of course, just quoting what I heard, seems now 10 cm is a tsunami for them lol. I wonder then, California with all those huge waves must have tsunamies every second!

[StayTuned]

Hardly low for anyone's standards.

Well, they get hit by these kind of earthquakes all the time. 5-7 is really something they are already used to. now 8-9... well, that's another story. We saw it last year. I hope something like this doesnt happen again.*

Also, @ Arnorei: isn't the thing about tsunamies that they do not break, like waves? So a 4 meter wave in Australia simply breaks at the coast, but a tsunami, even if it is just 10cm, pushes meters into the city?

[Deleted]

6.8 isn't pretty low, it's quite powerful.you do feel earthqaukes that are around 2-3.

For japan that's low. Japan has like one of those almost daily.

Also the magnitude doesn't say the force, it's all about how deep the quake was.

[Omgarsh]

For japan that's low. Japan has like one of those almost daily.

Also the magnitude doesn't say the force, it's all about how deep the quake was.

I have lived in Japan for two years, mostly in the Kanto region. You're full of it. Tonight's quakes were the strongest in awhile, like months.

[MerinPally]

Please don't forget that the Richter scale is LOGARITHMIC. Therefore, this 6.8 is about 100 times weaker than the one a year ago, not about 3 times.

Would be silly for this thread to derail into lack-of-scientific-intelligence-eco-warriors crying about rubbish they know nothing about T_T

[asher1611]

For japan that's low. Japan has like one of those almost daily.

Also the magnitude doesn't say the force, it's all about how deep the quake was.

That's incorrect. Magnitude goes into a number of factors, but depth is not quite one of them (except deeper quakes vs. surface quakes being able to be felt at different distances).

[Shyzhi]

Seems mother nature is pissed and taking back whats hers :P its a shame all these earthquakes are about tho.. Killing people and ruining lives. Its sad.. but its how the world moves

[Deleted]

Well considering you have 4 plates pushing together in japan, id say the strong earthquakes you experience will happen frequently, roughly 150 strong level earthquakes are recorded per year worldwide, but these wont cause any real destruction especially in a place whose major city is almost completely protected from earthquakes (obviously the smaller areas probably arent as well/at all protected)
Start worrying if you get major earthquakes.
Ive been in a 6.9 quake before, all it did was shake my bed fortunately.
Just remmeber there was a 9.0 one with soil liquefaction in march 11, this is not very bad in comparison :P

[Deleted]

That's incorrect. Magnitude goes into a number of factors, but depth is not quite one of them (except deeper quakes vs. surface quakes being able to be felt at different distances).

Lol no. You obviously know little about it. There's two factors, it's magnitude and dept, those two determine the force of a quake.

A 9.0 at 35km dept will never have the same force as a 7.0 at say 10km dept.

[Tomana]

A year and three days ago, a 9.1 magnitude earthquake struck off of Japan's coast. Now decent sized earthquakes are hitting seismic zones daily. Vanuatu was just hit with a 7.1 less than a week ago. Nothing good can come of this...

Alas, that's what you get when you live on a subduction zone

[xylophone]

lots of smaller ones mean that there is less chance of the strong ones because they cant build up enough force though iirc

Yep, for example here in SoCal our part of the San Andreas fault moves ~2cm a year (IIRC) and if the tension isn't released then it builds up until it is able to overcome friction and we get something nasty. This is why SoCal is due for a big quake, we haven't had a big one for a long time, basically, if you were to compare it to a pregnancy, we're 11 months pregnant.

Lol no. You obviously know little about it. There's two factors, it's magnitude and dept, those two determine the force of a quake.

A 9.0 at 35km dept will never have the same force as a 7.0 at say 10km dept.

Force of the quake =/= what you feel on the surface. A 9.0 is stronger than a 7.0 at any depth, though depth does factor into what you feel at the surface.

Also, anything short of a 7.0 is minor in active zones like Japan and here in CA. We had a 7.0 on Easter a year or two back, you can definitely feel it, but structural damage will be minimal, if there is any at all.