Two giant quakes prompt tsunami alerts
August 11th, 2009 - 5:41 am ICT by John Le Fevre
A powerful magnitude 7.6 earthquake off the coast of India near the Andaman Islands was followed immediately after by a second powerful 6.4 magnitude quake off the coast of Japan earlier today.
The Andaman Islands quake occurred at a depth of 33.1km (20.6 miles), 260km (160 miles) north of Port Blair, Andaman Islands, India, 365km (225 miles) south-southwest of Pathein (Bassein), Burma, and 825km (510 miles) west of Bangkok, Thailand.
Twelve-minutes later another powerful 6.4 magnitude earthquake struck off the coast of Japan, near the south coast of Honshu.
The Honshu quake was recorded at a depth of 26.8km (16.7 miles), 30km (20 miles) south-southwest of Shizuoka, Honshu and 170km (105 miles) southwest of Tokyo.
The Andaman Islands quake prompted the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center to issue a tsunami warning for India, Burma, Indonesia, Thailand and Bangledesh, followed a short time later by a confirmation that a tsunami had been generated.
The confirmation of a tsunami was withdrawn about 15 minutes later, though a tsunami alert warning remained in place for more than hour.
The Honshu quake resulted in an immediate tsunami alert being issued for the Izu Islands and the Shizuoka Prefecture
The Japan Meteorological Agency and the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center confirmed that a tsunami with a height of about two feet (0.61m) struck the coasts in Omaezeki and Yaizu and smaller tsunamis were detected at the observation sites in Numazu-shi Uchiura, Shimizu, Shimoda-ko.
A seismologist at the United States Geological Survey said the earthquake appears to be an aftershock to the major earthquake in December 2004, which sparked a deadly tsunami that killed hundreds of thousands of people in the region.
He said aftershocks can continue for years.
- Huge earthquakes strike off Indonesia, generate small tsunamis (Update 3) - Apr 11, 2012
- Huge earthquakes strike off Indonesia, prompt tsunami warnings (Update 2) - Apr 11, 2012
- 6.4 magnitude quake jolts Japan (Lead) - Mar 16, 2011
- Disaster management operations on: Japan PM - Mar 11, 2011
- 6 magnitude quake jolts Japan - Mar 15, 2011
- Huge earthquakes strike off Indonesia, prompt tsunami warnings (Update 1) - Apr 11, 2012
- Massive tsunami kills 23 in Japan - Mar 11, 2011
- Tsunamis strike Japan after enormous earthquakes, casualties reported - Mar 11, 2011
- Powerful earthquakes strike off Vanuatu, generating small tsunamis - Aug 21, 2011
- Quake hits Japan - Apr 21, 2011
- 6.8 magnitude quake jolts Japan (Lead) - Mar 14, 2012
- 7.3 magnitude earthquake strikes Fiji - Sep 16, 2011
- Magnitude 6.1 quake hits off Japan's east coast: USGS - Apr 14, 2011
- Powerful quake strikes off Japan, tsunami warning canceled - Dec 22, 2010
- 6-magnitude quake off Japan's Honshu island - Mar 13, 2011
Tags: andaman islands india, bangkok thailand, bangledesh, deadly tsunami, honshu, izu islands, japan meteorological agency, magnitude earthquake, magnitude quake, pacific tsunami warning, pacific tsunami warning center, port blair, seismologist, shimizu, shimoda, shizuoka prefecture, south southwest, tsunami warning center, united states geological, united states geological survey