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A 5.7-magnitude earthquake hit eastern Japan on Tuesday morning, seismologists reported. No tsunami alert was issued.
The quake struck at around 4:10 a.m. off the eastern Honshu coastline, 25 kilometers from the city of Toba and 37 kilometers from the city of Ise, according to the U.S. Geological Survey which monitors earthquakes worldwide.
The tremor struck far down at a depth of 332 kilometers, the USGS added. There were no initial reports of damage.
Japan lies on the so-called "Ring of Fire", a series of seismic fault lines encircling the Pacific Ocean which create frequent seismic and volcanic activity.
A 5.5-magnitude earthquake hit eastern Japan last week, rocking buildings in Tokyo. That tremor struck at a much shallower depth of 59 kilometers.
© (c) 2013 AFP
17 Comments
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TumbleDry
Japan's side of the ring of fire has been quite active the past days. That one woke me up...
Alex Einz
wild animals tend to feel em coming a bit before
StormR
Christchurch NZ was getting some decent quakes last night too so seems the ring of fire is getting active, might be another big shocker coming soonish, make sure you have an emergency kit and some sort of plan.
Disillusioned
I don't know which is scarier, the fact there was another strong earthquake in eastern Japan or the the fact I slept through it.
Stewie
We all need to keep our fingers crossed that no big ones hit while the Fukushima NPP is moving the fuel rods.
Heza!
In Oct was a big one and i have friends over there, one perminate resident and one was visiting. The one visiting got to go through her first typhoon, 7.0 quake and mini tsunami.. I think it would be really unwise to get the nuclear reactors running again if the fault lines are causing as much trouble as they are :( Who know when another big 2011 quake will happen.
Todd Gorman
@powderb It's not a mistake. It typical for very deep earthquakes along plate boundaries to be felt far away from the epicenter but not at all right above it. Remember that there are three overlapping plates at that location. If the earthquake happened inside the Pacific plate which dips way down to a depth of several hundred km under Shizuoka, then it makes sense that it would be felt in areas closest to where the plate meets the surface: i.e., the east-facing coast of Honshû.
TokyoGas
This was a strange morning. I woke up before the earthquake thinking that there was an earthquake. About an hour later the earthquake came. Maybe I am psychic.
Louis Tan
The Olympics Committee must be chewing their fingers off regretting putting the 2020 Games at risk with awarding the site to Japan.
Michael Grant
Slept right through it!
FightingViking
@Heza!
Although I didn't use the same words, that's exactly what I was trying to imply... I guess my English must be deteriorating (since at least two people disagree...)
dokshinshatcho
All the research and waggle , yet no one can predict a jishin...blimey !
crate
Most earthquakes since March 2011 have been on the Pacific/Eurasian plate boundary. This one looks like it was on the Philippine/Eurasian plate boundary. Interesting.
powderb
@Farmboy --- that is odd, isn't it? one would have to think it is a mistake
Scnadal.Lova
earthquakes are very active in japan these days.
FightingViking
Makes one really wonder why they've always been so intent on restarting any of the nuclear plants... As others have said, they never learn... We certainly felt the one before last here in Yokohama !