A strong 6.3-magnitude earthquake struck off northern Kyushu early Friday. Public broadcaster NHK said 17 people were injured. None of the injuries were life-threatening.
The epicenter of the quake -- which struck at 2:06 a.m. -- was located 13 kilometers north of the city of Kunisaki, the U.S. Geological Survey said. The quake hit at a depth of 82 kilometers.
The Japan Meteorological Agency said there was no risk of a tsunami but urged residents to stay on alert.
"We fear the danger of rockfalls and landslides has increased" in areas that felt strong tremors, Yohei Hasegawa, director of the agency's earthquake and tsunami observation division, told a news conference.
The quake, which the Japanese agency measured as having a preliminary magnitude of 6.2, registered a strong intensity in parts of southwestern Shikoku, Honshu and southern Kyushu islands.
There were no abnormalities detected at the Ikata nuclear plant in Ehime Prefecture or at the Shimane plant in Shimane Prefecture.
© (c) 2014 AFP
30 Comments
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gaijinfo
This woke me up this morning. It was big enough for me to get out of bed and stand near the front door. While half asleep, I was imagining my apt building crumbling around me.
bass4funk
That scared the living day lights out of me, I was half asleep when my phone started shrieking like Banshee and everything started to sway and roll. Quite a scare, hope everyone is ok. Glad it wasn't bigger than it could've been.
Ken Kitsune
me too it woke me up it lasted about 15sec or more
YongYang
Always be prepared for devastating earthquakes in Japan. Just be ready. Stay safe. Now, Genkai, Ikata and Kaminoseki... No to uranium based nuclear power in Japan.
titaniumdioxide
I was like... "wow earthquake, ok it stopped, gotta go back to dreamland"
I'm used to it.
globalwatcher
Restarting two reactors is a madness and crazy.
Thunderbird
woke me up for about a min, thougt it was a dream though xD not used to earthquakes as "strong" as this one here in Osaka.
Beer4me
It woke me up in Nagoya.
Thunderbird
this is the list of the cities "affected" by the earthquake and the intensities. http://www.google.org/publicalerts/alert?aid=2ba3328a34f82df0&hl=ja&gl=JP&source=web
kimuzukashiiiii
Is that Ehime? What a weird place to have a quake... recently they have all been on the east.
Detha Ire
Whats a morning surprise
FightingViking
@globalwatcher
Was going to write the same thing but you got there first ! NO to nuclear power in Japan.
Elbuda Mexicano
So can we all remember WHERE the idiotic JAPANESE government has the bright idea of getting NUCLEAR REACTORS back on line and fully working??? YES!!! KYUSHU!!! Just wait till they get them up and running and we get huge quakes and tsuamis down there in KYUSHU that has way more people than FUKUSHIMA, I think you all can imagine what a mess that would be!! Stay safe, amigos down in KYUSHU and say HELL NO TO the NUKE power plants!!!
Peacetrain
earthquake-report.com is a pretty interesting site, for info and feedback.
nath
Spilled my wine !
DudeDeuce
Yep, felt it in Kansai too. It was a long rolling type one.
Nathan Ward
This was centered on southern Shikoku not southern Kyushu. Please see graphic linked; http://bousai.tenki.jp/bousai/earthquake/detail-20140314020702.html
rickyvee
i hate that the japanese use a different scale to measure earthquakes. it seems stupid and much more imprecise with it's upper and lower measurements, and it's always one below what the richter scale gives it.
Disillusioned
Yeah, but nuclear power is safe, right?
FightingViking
Funny ? Or "strange" ? I agree with globalwatcher who gets "+2" but I get "-4" ??? Something smells rotten in the State of Denmark...
3RENSHO
"...who gets "+2" but I get "-4" ???"
There is no -4. Shindo 5 and 6 have weak and strong classifications, indicated by minus and plus, respectively. For more information, see the excellent graphic linked by poster Nathan Ward earlier, at 10:20AM.
samwatters
@3RENSHO. I think FIghting Viking is complaining that someone thumbed down his comment while others thumbed up another poster who said about the same thing.
univerman
My PC and phone give an early warning of earthquakes ,I saw strong shake coming after 10 sec. this good system should be global standard.
Louis Tan
A fair warning to Shinzo Abe. Now that TEPCO has successfully poisoned the Pacific Ocean Abe is now trying to do the same in Japan Inland Sea and the South China Sea?
smithinjapan
For a change I didn't bolt up awake and ready to run -- in fact, I never noticed at all. I did at some point wake up in the middle of the night and groggily go to the washroom, so maybe it was then.
Scary stuff. I'm glad no one was killed, and hope those injured get well soon.
lostrune2
Thought someone was rocking my world.
pablo944
I experienced a 5.3 whilst in Tokyo last year so i can imagine what a 6.3 must be like. I think a 6 is 10 times greater than a 5!
bunsup
@rickyvee - almost no one uses richter any more, just commonly reported as that because that is what is familiar.
@pablo944 - was not all that bad inland, but 6.3 would release 30 times more energy than a 5.3, the numbers go on a logarithmic scale.