No immediate reports of casualties or damage after M6.2 quake strikes Japan's Kyushu

[yuiyoshida]

Source: ChannelNewsAsia



Magnitude 6.2 earthquake strikes Japan's Kyushu island

TOKYO: An earthquake of magnitude 6.2 on the Richter struck 11km east of Kumamoto prefecture in the Japanese island of Kyushu, the US Geological Survey reported on Thursday (Apr 14).

The quake's epicentre was at a depth of around 10km, Japan's earthquake agency said.

There were no immediate reports of casualties or damage, and no tsunami warning was issued, but local media reported that the tremors felt were comparable to the 1995 Kobe earthquake and the March 2011 quake which struck northeastern Japan.

No Tsunami reported.

http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/asiapacific/magnitude-6-2-earthquake/2696370.html

Read more: https://twitter.com/ChannelNewsAsia/status/720594154808446976

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more links to come...

[AxionExcel]

1. Concerning earthquake frequency

Paying attention...

13 April: Earthquake of magnitude 6.9 strikes Myanmar, tremors felt in east India
10 April: Six people killed in Pakistan after 6.6-magnitude earthquake hits Kabul, tremors felt in India
8 April: Mild tremor of magnitude 4.2 hits Nepal
22 February: Moderate earthquake of magnitude 5.5 hits Nepal
20 January: 6.1-magnitude earthquake strikes China
4 January: 6.7-magnitude earthquake hits Manipur in India, 11 people killed

http://www.firstpost.com/world/natural-time-bomb-alarming-frequency-of-earthquakes-in-south-asia-should-worry-us-2729266.html?utm_source=FP_CAT_LATEST_NEWS

[Overseas]

2. K&R. I hope there isn't too much damage.

[yuiyoshida]

3. just a bit...

[Overseas]

7. 6.4 is very intense.

[Art_from_Ark]

8. Japanese TV news is saying the seismic intensity was "catastrophic"

Shindo 7 on the Japanese scale, the same level of intensity as the 2011 earthquake.

9 fatalities reported so far, over 800 injured.

[yuiyoshida]

15. Yikes...

glad there was no Tsunami. You doing okay Art? Did you feel it?

[Art_from_Ark]

17. I didn't even know about it until I saw the Japanese TV neews earlier today

It was on the other side of Japan, and it didn't even register in this part of the country.

?t=1460637411

7 on this map represents catastrophic damage. 6 represents major damage, and 5 represents potential for major damage. 1 means the quake was barely noticeable.

[longship]

4. Japan handles these things better than anywhere else on the planet.

A 6.2 is moderately strong. But Japan's infrastructure is built to take such tremblers. Thank goodness.

I wish all those in the area well.

R&K

Love all your posts, yuiyoshida.

[Art_from_Ark]

9. It's not the magnitude that matters in Japan-- it's the seismic intensity

The seismic intensity on the Japanese scale is estimated to be more than 7, or "catastrophic".

On edit:
There have been more than 40 aftershocks since the Big One. Two of those reached the level of 6 on the Japanese scale, meaning that the probability of major damage to people and structures would be extremely high. However, in only one of those cases did the magnitude exceed 6.0.

[longship]

10. Well, I don't know about that.

I lived in SoCal for a decade and I experienced many quakes, from the little ones which happened all the time, to some rather big ones, the largest was M7.2. Thankfully it was way out in the Mojave. It derailed an Amtrak train and split the desert somewhat horribly, but I felt it down near San Diego, quite some distance from the epicenter. It was a slow rock and roll quake which lasted about half a minute. Big displacement but slow. Things shook, but nothing broke. It was a very deep quake.

I have also experienced more violent quakes under mag 6 which rattled my teeth. Violent, jarring, things falling off shelves. They did not last long, thank goodness.

The magnitude scale is how geologists measure these things. I cannot imagine that Japan, or any other country, would use a different scale. There would be no advantage in doing such a thing. One could not compare data easily unless it was on the same scale.

[Art_from_Ark]

11. As someone who has spent years in Japan,

and who has been involved with the Japanese geological community, I can say that the Japanese seismic intensity scale is far more useful for gauging the destructive force of an earthquake than simply the magnitude. Japan has all sorts of faults, both on land and under the ocean, so the location of the epicenter/hypocenter is important. The Kyushu earthquake was a very shallow one, only 10km deep, and it was near the coast.

There have been M7 earthquakes in Japan that have done relatively little damage. On the other hand, the Great Kobe Earthquake of 1995 registered a 7.3, but it was shallow (16km) and right under the city of Kobe. As a result, its intensity reached catastrophic levels, and it ended up being Japan's worst earthquake disaster between the 1923 Tokyo/Yokohama quake and the 2011 East Japan quake.

[longship]

12. That's interesting.

So the geologists in Japan and the geologists here must have a conversion algorithm to convert between the different scales.

I've learned something new, which is always good.

Does the Japanese scale have a name? As far as I know the scale in the US is just called the magnitude scale. M4.6 is. Magnitude 4.6 .

[Art_from_Ark]

13. Yes, the Japanese scale is called "Kishocho Shindo Kaikyuu"

気象庁震度階級

In English, it translates as the "Seismic Intensity Scale of the Japan Meteorological Agency"

[longship]

16. Oh yes! SIS!

I remember that when I was watching NHK during the big earthquake crisis. We have a local PBS station which carries MHz Worldview on a sub carrier. During the crises they had extra NHK coverage several times a day, and during the height of the danger they went all day with NHK. "This is Ross Mihara for NHK!" (What a name! He has a plain Midwestern US accent, too. With a name like Ross Mihara, why wouldn't he?) I was glued to the TV. NHK is an awesome news network.

I recall now the SIS scale in their reporting. I didn't know then what you informed me of now. I just assumed it was the same magnitude scale.

Now it all fits together.

Wow! Thank you!

Learn something new every day!

[Art_from_Ark]

18. I've posted this map elsewhere in this thread,

but I'll post it here as well to give a visual image of SIS numbering

?t=1460637411

7 represents catastrophic damage; 6 represents major damage, and 5+ represents potential for major damage. 1 is barely noticeable.

[longship]

19. Well, given your description, it seems close to the magnitude scale.

I will be definitely looking it up tomorrow when I get up in the morning. My physics education has me curious about this, thanks to my new DU friend.

So, thank you new DU friend. (I've seen you around for some time.)

My best to you.

[Art_from_Ark]

20. Here's a Meteorological Agency illustration of what one can expect

from the various intensity levels

[longship]

22. One does not have to be able to read Japanese to see how cool this is.

And it seems similar to the Magnitude scale. Gonna look it up in the morning.

Absolutely cool!

[Art_from_Ark]

23. The strongest quake I've experienced was a 6-

It was one of the aftershocks that occurred a few days after the 2011 Big One. It was like the upper illustration for 6. All of a sudden, it seemed like some poltergeist had just knocked all of the books off my shelves, all at once.

[Eugene]

5. Strong Earthquake Hits South Japan; People May Be Trapped

Source: Associated Press

Strong Earthquake Hits South Japan; People May Be Trapped

By MARI YAMAGUCHI, ASSOCIATED PRESS
TOKYO — Apr 14, 2016, 10:18 AM ET

A powerful earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 6.4 knocked over houses in southern Japan on Thursday evening, and police said people may be trapped underneath.

There were no immediate reports of casualties from the 9:26 p.m. quake, and no risk of a tsunami.

"There was a ka-boom and the whole house shook violently sideways," Takahiko Morita, a resident of Mashiki, the town at the epicenter, said in a telephone interview with Japanese broadcaster NHK. "Furniture and bookshelves fell down, books were all over the floor."

Morita said some houses and walls collapsed in his neighborhood, and water supply was cut off.

Police in Kumamoto prefecture said they have received reports of a number of collapsed houses and people possibly trapped inside.

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Read more: http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/powerful-earthquake-hits-southern-japan-38390789

[allan01]

6. this from earthquake report.com

http://earthquake-report.com/2016/04/14/very-strong-earthquake-kyushu-japan-on-april-14-2016/

[riderinthestorm]

14. K and R! Super newsworthy. Great discussion nt

[nitpicker]

21. Link to BBC latest

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-36045140

At least 9 dead, 250+ injured

[Art_from_Ark]

24. The BBC link should be updated

Bloomberg Japan is currently reporting 9 dead, at least 860 injured, and 44,000 evacuated.

https://www.bloomberg.co.jp/news/articles/2016-04-14/O5MIVDSYF02701