7.2 Earthquake Hits Japan

[Madame Butterfly 0]

Powerful Earthquake Shakes Japan, Injuring Dozens

7.2 Magnitude Temblor Spawns Two Small Tsunamis

By SHIZUO KAMBAYASHI, AP

 

 

 

 

 

 

TOKYO (Aug. 16) - A powerful earthquake shook northeastern Japan on Tuesday, triggering landslides, sending a shower of ceiling debris into a crowded indoor swimming pool and shaking skyscrapers as far away as Tokyo. At least 59 people were reportedly injured.

 

The 7.2-magnitude quake, centered about 50 miles off the coast of Miyagi state, knocked out power to about 17,000 homes, while high-speed train services in northern Japan were suspended and flights were temporarily grounded at Haneda airport in Tokyo, 185 miles to the south.

 

Part of roof of an indoor pool in the coastal city of Sendai fell, injuring 17 people, Miyagi police spokesman Kazunori Abe said. Elsewhere, others were hurt by falling rocks and tumbling roof tiles.

 

TV news footage showed a collapsed house outside Tokyo and landslides in the quake-hit area. A Chiba police spokesman said an 80-year-old woman was trapped but later rescued.

 

"I thought my tires punctured...the jolt was long and slow," Shinji Abe, a 55-year-old taxi driver in Shiogama, outside of Sendai, told Kyodo News agency. "People were running out of buildings."

 

Many of the injured were at a public pool crowded with more than 200 people, some children on summer vacation. The force of the quake sent pieces of tile, glass and other debris showering over the bathers, cutting some of them.

 

National broadcaster NHK said there were preliminary reports of 59 people injured. Officials were still tallying figures, but police in Miyagi, which suffered the brunt of the quake, could only confirm 26 injuries, while neighboring Fukushima prefecture had four.

 

"The horizontal shaking was very strong, so much so that I almost couldn't remain standing," said Masami Oshima, an official with Miyagi state. Sendai is Miyagi capital city.

 

The quake struck at around 11:46 a.m. and was centered 12 miles below the ocean floor, Japan's Meteorological Agency said.

 

Two 4-inch tsunami waves hit the nearby coast shortly after noon, and officials expected little damage from the waves, it said.

 

The quake was followed by at least four aftershocks and additional quakes of up to magnitude 6 could follow.

 

Tuesday's temblor hit one of Japan's most quake prone regions. Several powerful quakes have struck the same area off-shore over the past few decades, and the Education and Science Ministry earlier this estimated the region had a 99 percent chance of suffering a 7.5 magnitude quake over the next 30 years.

 

In 1995, a magnitude-7.3 quake in the western port city of Kobe killed 6,400 people. The depth and offshore location of Tuesday's quake helped limit the damage that might have occurred had it been centered under a city.

 

Authorities in Miyagi were still assessing damage in the area.

 

A nuclear power plant in the neighboring prefecture of Fukushima was not affected by the earthquake, Kyodo News agency reported, citing the plant's operator. Another plant in Onagawa in Miyagi shut down automatically and was being checked for damage, reports said.

 

Japan sits at the juncture of four tectonic plates _ or moving slabs of the earth's outer crust _ and is one of the world's most quake-prone regions. A magnitude-6.0 quake shook the Tokyo area on July 23, injuring more than two dozen people.

 

 

8/16/2005 07:12:32

[Capt_Picard 0]

My aunt did it again... I tolder her not to sumo, but did she listen? No...

[HRH The KING 0]

Hmmmm.

 

Somehow, I think that if an earthquake of that magnitude struck Port Orchard, Washington, I doubt you would be making such banal jokes about it dude.

[Capt_Picard 0]

A 6.8 hit back in 2001 less then 20 miles away. Caused a school that I use to go to to sink 3 inch., and the one I was in at the time of the quake had falling lights in the main lunch room. I though my aunt woke up on the wrong side of the bed and hit the floor. Jokes aside...

Earthquakes are bad, but at least this one wasn't as bad as it could have been. A 7.2 could have caused more damage, but we're luck. So... why not a little joke... it helps sometimes.

[HRH The KING 0]

Jokes about earthquakes are inappropriate IMO.

[Madame Butterfly 0]

It's insensitive to joke about other people's tragedies.

[Capt_Picard 0]

Look... I live through earthquakes, big and small, and seeing that this one didn't kill anyone I made a joke about it. I know thier bad, but some time we just need to lighten up if the worst that happen was some houses lossing power and now one really got hurt. If some one died believe me... I wouldn't joke about it.

[HRH The KING 0]

I think making any kind of joke regarding a disaster or occurance where people are injured is a bad idea. Best to simply avoid it.