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No tsunami alert in NMI after Japan tremblor
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Posted on Mar 20 2005
A strong earthquake hit Japan’s southernmost main island of Kyushu yesterday morning, resulting in structural damage on buildings and triggering tsunami warnings.
The U.S. Pacific Tsunami Warning Center also cautioned its territories in the Pacific, including the Northern Marianas, that the magnitude of the earthquake could possibly result in local tsunamis a few hundred kilometers away from the epicenter.
The quake occurred about 11:53am (10:53am, Japan time). A Reuters report stated that the tremor’s intensity registered at 7.0, which was measured according to a technique similar to the Richter scale, but adjusted for Japan’s geological characteristics.
Earthquakes are common in Japan, one of the world’s most seismically active areas. Reuters said that Japan accounts for about 20 percent of the world’s earthquakes of magnitude 6 or greater.
In a preliminary report, however, the U.S. Geological Survey’s National Earthquake Information Center said the quake had an intensity of 6.4.
The USGS said that the quake’s epicenter, which had a depth of about 6.2 miles, was located about 25 miles of Fukuoka, 70 miles north of Nagasaki, and 80 miles north-northwest of Kumamoto in Kyushu. The USGS said that temblor was about 570 miles west of the Tokyo capital.
The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said that no tsunami threat existed to the coastlines of the Pacific.
“However, earthquakes of this size generate local tsunamis that can be destructive along coasts located within a few hundred kilometers of the earthquake epicenter. Authorities in the region of the epicenter should be aware of this possibility and take appropriate action,” it said.
