A strong 6.0-magnitude earthquake struck off Japan’s
southwest coast Friday, the US Geological Survey said, but local authorities
said there was no danger of a tsunami. The quake hit at 11:39 am (02:39 GMT)
off the coast of Japan’s main Honshu Island, at a location about 350 kilometers
southwest of Tokyo, USGS and the Japan Meteorological Agency said. The quake
was measured at a relatively shallow depth of 10 kilometers. No damage or
injuries were immediately reported though heavy shaking forced some of the
country’s bullet trains to temporarily stop running, public broadcaster NHK
reported. Japan sits at the junction of four tectonic plates and experiences
around 20 percent of the world’s most powerful earthquakes. But rigid building
codes and strict enforcement mean even powerful tremors frequently do little
damage. A massive undersea quake that hit in March 2011 sent a tsunami barreling
into Japan’s northeast coast, leaving 18,500 people dead or missing, and sending
several reactors into meltdown at the Fukushima nuclear plant in the worst
atomic accident in a generation.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Your comment: