InsideJapan News Network

Monday, 10th August 2009
In Events In Japan,

Japan hit by earthquake

Japan was hit by an earthquake on Sunday (August 9th) but there have been no reports of deaths or injuries.

According to figures from the US Geological Survey, the quake measured around 7.1 on the Richter scale, with estimates from the Japanese Meteorological Agency putting the strength at around 6.9.

The agency said that the earthquake was measured at around 213 miles under the Pacific, around 170 kilometres south of the Izu peninsula.

The earthquake saw buildings shake in the capital city of Tokyo but no damage has been reported.

As well as Tokyo, the tremors from the quake were felt in Ibaraki, Saitama and Chiba, it was reported.

It is the largest magnitude quake to hit Japan so far this year, after a 6.6 magnitude tremor shook the country in April.

On Wednesday of last week (August 5th), there were two earthquakes in southern Japan, but neither caused any damage or injury.

Written by Kimberley Homer. ADNFCR-1445-ID-19304750-ADNFCR

InsideJapan Says:

This was certainly a big earthquake, even by Japan standards but the fact that there have been no reports of deaths underlines how well the country is geared up to deal with the seismic activity. Japan sits on top of several ocean tectonic plates and therefore experiences hundreds of earthquakes each year ranging from small tremors to big ground shakers. Most buildings are built to "earthquake proof" specification and this is probably why we do not here about earthquakes in Japan unless it is a really big one. Although earthquakes are big news to us in the UK and would cause disaster in other countries, most Japanese are very used to earthquakes and take it in their stride.

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