6.8 Magnitude Earthquake in Honshu, Japan

[Catta]

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.



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.

Ah the joys of not living on a tectonic fault...

We have no mountains, no volcanos, no tornadoes, no earthquakes (those we have i have slept through appearently or else people are screwing with me) and the british isles take the blunt blows of hurricanes - nothing exciting ever happens :P

[zox2]

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...

Remember that a 9.1 magnitude quake is more than a 100 times stronger than a 6.8 one. ~6.5-ish quakes are reasonably frequent in Japan.

[xylophone]

Ah the joys of not living on a tectonic fault...

We have no mountains, no volcanos, no tornadoes, no earthquakes (those we have i have slept through appearently or else people are screwing with me) and the british isles take the blunt blows of hurricanes - nothing exciting ever happens :P

It really isn't a big deal here. That 7 was the first one that actually made me feel a little anxious. For the most part it goes kind of like this:

"Hey did you feel that 5.3 last night?"

"When was that?"

"About 7:30 last night."

"Nope, I was watchin TV."