Job Discussion Forums

Tiger Beer · Joined: 08 Feb 2003 Posts: 778 Location: Hong Kong

Earthquake this morning around 8:44am.

Anyone else feel it?

parrothead · Joined: 02 Nov 2003 Posts: 342 Location: Japan

Tiger Beer · Joined: 08 Feb 2003 Posts: 778 Location: Hong Kong

Apsara · Joined: 20 Sep 2005 Posts: 2142 Location: Tokyo, Japan

Better get used to it Tiger Beer, you'll feel feel plenty more earthquakes- I would say I notice about 2 or 3 tremors a month. Here in Tokyo I felt it but it was so small that I had forgotten about it until I saw the post here. Looks like they really felt it in Miyagi and Iwate prefectures though, although they are only reporting injuries so far.

Apsara · Joined: 20 Sep 2005 Posts: 2142 Location: Tokyo, Japan

Looks like I spoke too soon, they are now reporting 2 people have died and I suppose more info will come in. Luckily it isn't such a populated area- an earthquake that size would really mess up Tokyo.

uberscheisse · Joined: 15 Nov 2004 Posts: 94

i felt it here in ibaraki. woke me up.

Tiger Beer · Joined: 08 Feb 2003 Posts: 778 Location: Hong Kong

Woke me up too. I'm in northern Honshu, so probably felt it much more than Tokyo-ites.

As far as getting use to it, it was more of a 'that is cool' than anything. I've been in a half dozen, but they always give me a big rush everytime... Cool

Apsara · Joined: 20 Sep 2005 Posts: 2142 Location: Tokyo, Japan

I bet you felt it if you are in northern Honshu. No damage in your area then?

Hoser · Joined: 19 Mar 2005 Posts: 694 Location: Toronto, Canada

We barely felt it in Tokyo this morning. Just figured it was a small earthquake-never thought that it might be a large earthquake somewhere else far away.

flyer · Joined: 16 May 2003 Posts: 539 Location: Sapporo Japan

I am in south Hokkaido and I didn't feel it at all

Quibby84 · Joined: 10 Aug 2006 Posts: 643 Location: Japan

We felt it in Tochigi..did you know that 6 people were killed?? Crazy.
But the crazier thing is that it was a size 7 and wasnt the one in China a size seven...why was the death toll so different?? I am very curious about this...or maybe the one in China was a 9?

Apsara · Joined: 20 Sep 2005 Posts: 2142 Location: Tokyo, Japan

The one in China was magnitude 7.8, I thought. The Richter scale is logarithmic so an 8 is 10 times as strong as a 7, meaning the Chinese earthquake was 8 times stronger than the one in Iwate (someone correct me if I'm wrong.)

In any case you can't judge an earthquake solely by its magnitude, there are also factors like depth (a shallower quake will do more damage than a deeper quake), frequency (as in the frequency of the waves, they measure it in kilohertz I think), what kind of land (bedrock vs. reclaimed land etc.), population density, construction methods and all kinds of things that affect how disastrous an earthquake is to a particular area.

Most of the people who died in the Kobe earthquake in 1995 died in the fires set off by the quake rather than the quake itself, another factor there.

If a quake the size of the one in Iwate hits Tokyo it will be a huge disaster, but because this quake hit a rural area damage was relatively light.

There's no comparing the Iwate quake with the Sichuan quake, too many different factors.

parrothead · Joined: 02 Nov 2003 Posts: 342 Location: Japan

The one in China was a magnitude greater I believe. Tohoku is sparsely populated in comparison to just about anywhere in China. The epicenter was in a fairly rural place, so luckily not many people were killed or injured.

flyer · Joined: 16 May 2003 Posts: 539 Location: Sapporo Japan

yes, as pointed out, I think depth has a lot to do with it