Location map of the magnitude 7.0 earthquake that struck near
Okinawa, Japan. See below for a larger, more detailed map.
(USGS)
A major 7.0 magnitude earthquake struck near the Ryukyu Islands in Japan early Saturday morning local time. The epicenter was southeast of Okinawa and prompted the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center to issue a tsunami warning for the region.
The U.S. Geological Survey reported the quake was centered 50 miles east-southeast of Naha, Okinawa, Japan and at a depth of 13.7 miles. It was 5:31am local time (20:31 UTC) when the temblor struck.
Moderate shaking was felt by residents on the island including in Urasoe, Ginowan, Naha, Okinawa and Nago. No immediate reports of damage were reported.
The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center (PTWC) immediately issued a tsunami warning but then downgraded the event. They however caution that “earthquakes of this size sometimes generate local tsunamis that can be destructive along coasts.” The Japanese Meteorological Agency followed suit witih a warning and has since cancelled it.
The area in which this quake occurred was also near a 6.8 magnitude quake on October 30th of last year and a magnitude 6.7 temblor on August 17th as well.
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Japan is considered one of the most vulnerable nations to major earthquakes. The worst in the nation’s history occurred in 1923 near Tokyo on the Kanto plain. The Great Kanto Earthquake as it is called claimed the lives of more than 100,000 people.
More recently, in January 1995 the city of Kobe was struck by a magnitude 6.8 quake that is now called the Great Hanshin earthquake. 6,000 people were killed and over 400,000 injured. Hundreds of thousands of homes were either destroyed or severely damaged.
Earthquake Details
| Magnitude | 7.0 |
|---|---|
| Date-Time |
|
| Location | 25.902°N, 128.417°E |
| Depth | 22 km (13.7 miles) set by location program |
| Region | RYUKYU ISLANDS, JAPAN |
| Distances | 80 km (50 miles) ESE of Naha, Okinawa, Japan 455 km (285 miles) ENE of Ishigaki-jima, Ryukyu Islands, Japan 665 km (415 miles) SSW of Kagoshima, Kyushu, Japan 1530 km (950 miles) SW of TOKYO, Japan |
| Location Uncertainty | horizontal +/- 4.4 km (2.7 miles); depth fixed by location program |
| Parameters | NST=281, Nph=281, Dmin=104 km, Rmss=1.16 sec, Gp= 14°, M-type=teleseismic moment magnitude (Mw), Version=A |
| Source |
|
| Event ID | us2010teb2 |
Location Map - Magnitude 7.0 earthquake near Japan (USGS / Google Earth)
Comments
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