M4.9 quake jolts Tokyo, Kanagawa

Almost spilled my beer. Lucky me I had quick reflexes and was able to pick it up and continue drinking.

I'm staying in a little business hotel in downtown Tokyo on the 8th floor. I had just turned on the TV to listen to the news while in the bath, so I was standing in front of the TV completely naked. The moment I turned on the TV, the little digital reading on the screen said 5:59 and the building started swaying and then bouncing up and down. It does make a person feel a little vulnerable. "Should, I put my clothes on?", I asked myself. "No, just pop open that ice-cold Grapefruit Chu Hai and get in the bath!", the little voice in my head answered. As I obeyed the voice, and got in the bath, I pictured them pulling my naked body from the rubble, still clutching my tall 8% Chu Hai can. Does this mean I've been in Japan too long? I don't know. We're all going to go sometime, right?

Was mid-stream (no joke). Reminded me of taking a piss in the bathroom of a moving train.

Shinhiyata. Why such a nasty comment? Firstly this is not a matter of competition and secondly there has been no stronger one in the Tohoku in the past 24 hours (talking about Shindo scale).

Got stuck on the Yamanote about 20m from Ikebukuro and stayed there for a good 15-20 minutes.

My scale:

-"Hmm..?" -"Whoops!" -"Whoa!" -"Crap!" -"God? Can we make a deal?"

Does not matter how many stations report an acceleration. Shindo 4 means an acceleration between 0.25 and 0.80 m/s2 at a defined location. Period! I understand the earthquake matter is not easy and confusing and it took me some time to understand it. The only point I would agree is that with more detectors, there is a good probability to capture a higher acceleration, but that's it. And that's it for me tonight too!

Yep, was a quick and nasty quake.

Here is a good site to check earthquake data for all that can't read Japanese.

http://www.jma.go.jp/en/quake/

Most likely one of the biggest Shindo this year in Shibuya-ku! Very nasty one: quick an strong!

Was walking to the supermarket when a big noise came roaring through and the houses on both sides of the narrow road shook violently. I figured, "Well, here we go again" (that is, another big one like the 3/11 quake in Fukushima). But that was it ... nothing more happened.

I met my wife near the supermarket as she was finished shopping, and she said she felt nothing (she was on the 1st floor), but friends shopping on the 2nd floor said they felt a pretty good shake.

Upon returning home we found some things laying in the entrance, so figured it must have shook the place pretty good. Then upon entering the bedroom I found one of my prized porcelain birds lying on the floor with a foot broken off. Other things had been moved around on shelves, and fortunately nothing else had been broken.

So it was with the No. 4 quake at Yotsuya 3-chome.

My windows rattled and yeah, I thought it was the big one. But it was just the reminder only.

MMS does not tell you anything about local acceleration (ground motion). JMA claims 4,200 intensity meters (http://www.seisvol.kishou.go.jp/eq/eng/fig/earthinfo.html). The only relevant parameter to evaluate potential destruction and casualties is the peak ground acceleration, which is the base of the Shindo scale (does not matter if linear or not - the MMS itself is exponential).

It shook my place in the middle my dinner near Shinjuku. The food still tastes the same and life goes on.

The big one is coming (Tokyo near field earthquake)..

It will be here sooner rather later...

Too many earthquakes this year around that place...what is the whole rehearsal for?

GaijinSince74:

" I pictured them pulling my naked body from the rubble, still clutching my tall 8% Chu Hai can. Does this mean I've been in Japan too long? "

Yes.

GaijinSince74 Lol. Cracked me there! I can so relate. Yep, i think we've been in japan too long.

I heard and felt that one!

http://www.jma.go.jp/en/quake/20121124052511391-240521.html http://www.jma.go.jp/en/quake/20121123083036391-230826.html Closed mind, do you think I make this up?

The Kanto tremors today were at depths of 58 and 66 km with magnitudes of 4.9 and 4.8 respectively. The Tohoku tremors today were at depths of 50 and 47 km with magnitudes of 5.1 and 5.3 respectively. This is according to the USGS at http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/recenteqsww/Maps/10/140_40.php The depth of the epicenter and it's magnitude make the difference. Therefore, I respectively submit that no matter what floor you live on, you are still incorrect.

Magnitude is the measured released energy from a quake. It does not tell what you feel (intensity) where you are. This is why JMA developed the Shindo scale that measure intensity at more than 4,000 locations in Japan. Still looking for the link, but I recall having read that living in high-rise building add easily one level to the Shindo scale.

In the last week or so there has been a few short, sharp and strong quakes in Chiba. There was one last night around 12:30am. One would like to believe they are releasing the pressure, but logic tells me that, due to the quick violence of the wuakes the pressure is building. Update your earthquake kits people and get all that loose stuff off the shelves. And, if you have light fittings above your bed, whack a screws in them before they customize your face.

I was in a Bookoff when it hit. It went on for quite a while too. It wasn't enough to shake any books off the shelves though, so I stayed put.

@Mike CritchleyNov. 24, 2012 - 07:36PM JST "I'm sitting right on the epicenter. Shook the fridge up a bit, but didn't even get out of my chair for that one."

Oh my God, you poor fellow.... how on earth did you do that? It was right in the middle of northeren Tokyo Bay?

Oh okay, it's back to normal now. Thanks for the heads up zichi.

meh,wasnt that strong

@CoffeeHulk, those survival instincts will serve you well. Inspiring.

Could be another BIG earthquake coming up ! !

Shinhiyata: both are Shindo 4, like the one tonight in Shibuya. Not stronger, not weaker! Then if you live at the 20's or 30's floor, that makes a difference.

You have contradicted yourself by equating relevancy with potentiality for subjective effects that may not even be the direct result of the earthquake. The great Kanto earthquake killed tens of thousands more than the much more powerful quake here in Tohoku last year only because of subsequent fires.That's why the Shindo scale had to be further revised after the Hanshin Kobe earthquake in 1995, Subjective aftereffects as predicted by the Shindo scale are not relevant to my first post. My initial statement is indisputably correct - the 2 tremors here in Tohoku today were stronger than the 2 in Kanto. And furthermore, the numerous intensity meters that are deployed, are for some strange reason, data pooled for their municipality and only reported from one location. For example, here in Iwate, the city of Iwaizumi might have many shaking intensity detectors, but the data is pooled from those and only reported from one central location. The geographically large city of Iwaizumi is half the size of Tokyo's wards and extends from the coast all the way to the Kitakami river valley, but has only one reporting station, whereas Tokyo has hundreds. Therefore, the Shindo scale as used by the JMA, does not tell you anything objective about 'local' acceleration.

Was in Mitaka Station when we heard a "BANG!" That was it. My wife though it was an earthquake. Sounded like a truck banging into the building to me. Then they announced it over the speaker and we had to wait a little extra for the train.

I was waiting in line at My Basketo when the quake hit. Before the main part I thought it was an earthquake but then I thought that maybe a big truck was passing by.

The Shindo scale is a subjective scale developed by the JMA in 1884. The MMS scale is an objective scale developed in 1972 and currently used in refined form by the USGS. The most accurate objective measurement of shaking is peak ground acceleration with which the Shindo number has no linear correlation. So, if 25 million more people in Kanto feel an earthquake that is objectively weaker than an earthquake only felt by 4 million people in Tohoku, then subjectively, the effects are more likely to get a story on JT. According to the JMA, there are only a total of 627 seismicity meters in Japan - not 4000, the majority of which are located in Kanto - http://www.seisvol.kishou.go.jp/eq/intens_st/index.html. This would further add to your misperception that today's Kanto tremors were somehow objectively more powerful than today's Tohoku quakes.

Hope everyone has their emergency bag at the ready. When the big one hits, if ever, tokyo is NOT ready so you'll have to rely on yourself.

Better to move to new buildings. It should be a signal that the big one is comming.

Was driving, did not notice a thing.

Fukushima dai 4 not compromised? Those fuel rods in a pool on the 2nd floor are bothering the hell outta me.

I'm sitting right on the epicenter. Shook the fridge up a bit, but didn't even get out of my chair for that one.

We've had 2 in the past 24 hours that were even stronger up here in Tohoku. You Kanto woosies can't take it.