November 22, 2016

JAPAN: Experts Says, Massive 7.4 Magnitude Earthquake That Struck Japan On Monday, November 21st, Was Triggered By Vertical Split In Undersea Rock.

Japan Times
written by Mizuho Aoki and Daisuke Kikuchi
Tuesday November 22, 2016

The major earthquake that triggered tsunami in the Tohoku region Tuesday was caused by a type of jolt that is likely to cause tidal waves, according to the Meteorological Agency.

The temblor also caused tsunami across a widespread area because it originated at a shallow point under the seabed.

The tsunami measuring up to 1.4 meters were the highest since the magnitude-9 Great East Japan Earthquake of March 11, 2011, that killed more than 15,000 people.

The magnitude-7.4 quake Tuesday jolted northeastern Japan early at 5:59 a.m. in a vertical split of an undersea rock.

In this mechanism, a rock plate 60 km off Iwaki, Fukushima Prefecture slid vertically, creating a gap in the seabed level and pushing the seawater up, seismology experts said.

The Meteorological Agency said it considers the quake an aftershock of the 2011 earthquake. Experts said people need to be alert for further aftershocks for the next few days.

“Although I personally don’t think there will be a massive magnitude-9 earthquake, there is possibility of a similar scale of earthquake,” said Masanobu Shishikura of the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST).

Shinji Toda, a professor at Tohoku University’s International Research Institute of Disaster Science, agreed, saying it is possible another magnitude-7 quake could hit the Tohoku region.

Meanwhile, Manabu Takahashi, a professor at the Institute of Disaster Mitigation for Urban Cultural Heritage at Ritsumeikan University, said even though the magnitude-7.4 quake was relatively strong, it was not surprising.

“Looking at data accumulated over the past 100 years, earthquakes with magnitudes of around 7 occur about three times in five years” in Japan, Takahashi said. “As it caused a tsunami, it’s fair to say it was a moderately large quake, but not a major quake.”

He also said there could be a larger earthquake in the near future.

“The Meteorological Agency has previously considered a first big quake as the main shock, but you’ll never know when the biggest one will come,” Takahashi said.

A series of magnitude-7 earthquakes have occurred in the Pacific Ocean off Japan since seismic activities intensified after the 2011 earthquake, which is estimated to have had 200 times more energy than Tuesday’s temblor.

“Before March 11, we didn’t see much of this type of earthquake in the area. But since the major calamity, we’ve started to see it in the region,” Shishikura of AIST said.

In that sense, the quake could have been triggered by the March 11 earthquake, he said.

Published on Nov 21, 2016
A warning was issued for Japan to be on watch for M6.2 to M6.5 earthquake activity near Tokyo 2 days prior to the earthquake warning issued on November 19th..

The warning was issued on November 19th, and the time frame to watch was 72 hours (3 day watch).

See the warning here, the location warned was near Tokyo : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ww8-Y...

The location struck by the M7.0 earthquake today (Nov 21-22) was about 150 miles Northeast of the location expected to be struck! This is a very small location if one considers the size of the area expecting movement.

11/19/16 10pm earthquake update dutchsinse

The Telegraph, UK
written by Barney Henderson David Lawler Julian Ryall, tokyo Chris Graham, video source storyful/ap
Tuesday November 22, 2016

A powerful earthquake off the northeast Japanese coast on Tuesday sent residents fleeing to higher ground and prompted worries about the Fukushima nuclear power plant destroyed by a tsunami five year ago.

Lines of cars were seen snaking away from the coast in the pre-dawn hours after authorities issued a tsunami warning and urged residents to seek higher ground immediately. The warning was lifted nearly four hours later.

The magnitude 7.4 earthquake struck in the same region that was devastated by a tsunami in 2011, killing some 18,000 people.
There were reports of minor injuries and damage, Japanese broadcaster NHK said. The earthquake shook buildings in Tokyo, 150 miles southwest of the epicentre.


NHK also showed one person's video of water rushing up a river or canal, but well within the height of the embankment. It was eerily reminiscent of the 2011 disaster, when much larger tsunamis rushed up rivers and overflowed, wiping away entire neighbourhoods.

On Tuesday, tsunami waves were recorded along the coast. The highest one was 1.4 metres in Sendai Bay. A tsunami advisory was eventually lifted at 12.50pm local time.

The operator of the Fukushima Dai-ichi plant said there were no abnormalities observed at the plant, though a swelling of the tide of up to 1 metre was detected offshore.

The plant was swamped by the 2011 tsunami, sending three reactors into meltdown and leaking radiation into the surrounding area. The plant is being decommissioned but the situation remains serious as the utility figures out how to remove still-radioactive fuel rods and debris and what to do with the melted reactor cores.

Plant operator Tepco said a pump that supplies cooling water to a spent fuel pool at the nearby Fukushima Dai-ni plant stopped working, but that a backup pump had been launched to restore cooling water to the pool.

Naohiro Masuda, head of TEPCO's decommissioning unit, said he believed the pump was shut off automatically by a safety system as the water in the pool shook.

He said decommissioning work at the destroyed Dai-ichi plant had been temporarily suspended because of the earthquake.

The US Geological Survey measured the magnitude at 6.9.

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