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Concerns Raised By Japanese Quakes

Posted on: Thursday, 13 August 2009, 14:55 CDT

News of Japan’s most recent earthquake has many experts concerned that it is a sign of more to come.

The magnitude 6.5 earthquake struck just 105 miles from the Japanese capital city of Tokyo at 7:49 a.m. Thursday, according to Japan’s Meteorological Agency and the Associated Press.

Fisheries official Masaki Yamada told AFP that the quake was "a rehearsal for us in preparing for a bigger, real disaster."

What’s more, the Earthquake Research Committee estimates that there is an 87 percent chance of a magnitude-8 quake hitting the region during the next 30 years.

In 1995, the western port city of Kobe was struck by a magnitude-7.2 quake that resulted in 6,400 deaths.

Prior to that quake, the Great Kanto Earthquake of Tokyo resulted in the deaths of more than 140,000 people in 1923.

The Meteorological Agency has reported no immediate deaths after Thursday’s quake.

Additionally, there have been no reports of damages to power plants in the region or any increased threats of damaging tsunamis.

Tokyo lies in the line of danger for damaging quakes in a region known as "Pacific Ring of Fire". The region is located on the intersection of the Eurasian, Pacific and Philippine Sea plates.

On Tuesday, central Japan was struck by a magnitude-6.4 quake, resulting in several dozen injuries and one death, according to officials.

"I believe that all the seismic activity seen in the area in recent years has been leading up to ... the Tokai earthquake," said Shozo Matsumura of the National Research Institute for Earth Science and Disaster Prevention.

"If the energy that would cause the Tokai quake has already reached the critical point, (Tuesday's) earthquake could act as the trigger."

"The Tokai quake would be so massive that in many ways we could not do enough to be adequately prepared," Kishie Shigekawa, an expert of urban disaster prevention at Fuji Tokoha University, told AFP.

"But Tuesday's tremor proved again that good preparation and information sharing at the town and community level still works to minimize the damage. We need to do the same for the big one."

Source: redOrbit Staff & Wire Reports

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