Southern Japan Coast Rocked By Massive Earthquake

February 7th, 2010 - 9:42 pm ICT by GD  

By Gina Gomez
japanTokyo, Feb 7, (THAINDIAN NEWS) Several islands of Japan along the Southern coast experienced a severe earthquake on Sunday. Reportedly, the earthquake rocked at 3:10 pm local time at about 70 miles from the coast of the Japanese island of Miyakomina in the Ryuku Islands, which is at a distance of 1,800 kilometers southwest of Tokyo.

At the moment, reports indicating any kind of damage or any casualties has not been available. The intensity of the tremors can be judged from the fact that soon after the earthquake, officials issued a tsunami warning of about 1.6 feet (50 centimeters) high although the warning was retracted later. At the same time, the tremor is said to be so strong, that it could even be felt at 250 kilometers away in Taiwan, where the residents have revealed that the they could feel the buildings rattle owing to the enormous force of the earthquake. However, following the tremors the seismology center in Taiwan subsequently did not issue any immediate tsunami warning.

The Meteorological Agency of Japan has stated that the magnitude of the earthquake was 6.6 whereas the US Geological Survey has registered the intensity to be 6.4. However, the Taiwanese Seismology Center measured the magnitude of the earthquake at 6.3.

Japan is considered to be among the most earthquake prone countries across the world owing to the fact that it is located in the junction of two tectonic plates. It has been estimated that the nation experiences around 20 percent of the world’s most massive earthquakes. In the year 1995, around 6,400 people lost their lives when an earthquake of 7.2 magnitude rocked the city of Kobe.

Related Stories

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Posted in World News |

Subscribe