Today

Niigata's Earthquakes

1st one

Magnitude 6.7
Date-Time
Monday, July 16, 2007 at 10:13:28 AM

2nd one

Magnitude 5.8

Date-Time

Monday, July 16, 2007 at 3:37:46 PM

A powerful 6.8-magnitude earthquake rattled Japan on Monday, injuring more than 150 people as it toppled houses, triggered mudslides and set off a blaze at a nuclear power plant.

In areas northwest of Tokyo, which were hardest hit, houses were reduced to rubble and a bridge was nearly cracked in two by the force of the mid-morning quake, Japanese television footage showed.
The government set up a crisis-management centre after the quake, which was powerful enough to shake skyscrapers and send goods flying from the shelves of stores in Tokyo more than 200km away from the epicentre.
Officials said they were hunting for survivors. More than 150 people were taken to hospitals, mostly in worst-hit Niigata prefecture, after the quake, which was first listed as 6.6-magnitude and then upgraded to 6.8.

The tremor set off 50-cm tsunami waves which hit the Japanese coast within minutes. It was followed by aftershocks, including one measuring 4.2 on the Richter scale.

Service on Japan's famed bullet trains was suspended as a precaution while Niigata airport temporarily closed its runways to check for damage.

Television footage showed flames billowing at a nuclear power plant in Kashiwazaki although there was no apparent risk of radiation.Plant officials said the fire was in the part supplying electricity to the facility and that the four reactors automatically shut down following the jolt.

The quake also triggered mudslides in Kashiwazaki, where soil was already loose after a major typhoon over the weekend that left four people dead or missing and flooded hundreds of homes across Japan.On the Japanese scale which measures seismic intensity, the earthquake registered six out of seven, meaning it had the potential to cause damage.

Japan lies at the junction of four tectonic plates and endures about 20 percent of the world's most powerful earthquakes.Niigata was the scene of a major 6.8 Richter-scale earthquake in October 2004. Forty-six people were killed, many of them elderly who suffered fatigue and stress as they stayed in shelters and felt hundreds of aftershocks.

***As I'm typing this blog now, I'm still feeling small aftershocks. Everything will slowly start to sway/shake and I keep wondering if it'll get harder, but then it dies down.***