Large quake hits off Japan; no Pacific-wide tsunami expected

[IDemo]

Source: staradvertiser.com

By Star-Advertiser staff

POSTED: 05:03 p.m. HST, Mar 08, 2011

A 7.2 magnitude earthquake has struck off the east coast of Japan, but did not trigger a destructive Pacific-wide tsunami, officials said.

The quake struck at 12:45 p.m. Wednesday (4:45 p.m. today Hawaii time) 131 miles east of Honshu, Japan, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

"No destructive widespread tsunami threat exists based on historical earthquake and tsunami data. However, earthquakes of this size sometimes generate local tsunamis that can be destructive along coasts located within a hundred kilometers of the earthquake epicenter," according to an alert from the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center in Ewa Beach.

Read more: http://www.staradvertiser.com/news/breaking/117623898.html

[tavalon]

1. I wonder how they can tell that quickly?

[Roci]

2. Here..

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pacific_Tsunami_Warning_Center

[tavalon]

7. coolness

thanks for the longer answer. I shall read and learn.

[Paradoxical]

3. Japan is riddled with seismic activity monitors.

They know the second the P waves hit the monitor. And based on depth and location relative to the ocean, they can very quickly calculate what type of tsunamis may be created.

There are also floating stations all across the pacific that measure changes in ocean surface elevation. So they know if a tsunami is present, how fast it's moving and how big it's going to be once it hits land.

[tavalon]

8. Thanks for the short answer

not the snarky one. Now I know a bit more.

[SheilaT]

4. I have an app on this computer that causes my screen

to sake, and then tells me the magnitude and where the earthquake was. I've been away for several hours, and in the past five minutes I've seen two Japan related ones pop up, a 4.5 and a 5.2. Now I know why.

In the days following the Haiti quake I could see how many and how strong the aftershocks were.

I think someone here on DU posted the link to this app a couple of years ago, but I have no idea how to get it again, alas.

[Mojorabbit]

11. I have this one on my firefox browser.

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/equake-alert/
and it shakes my screen when one hits.

[greyl]

12. Caused your screen to sake? That's appropriate. :) nt

[Vehl]

14. :)

I noticed that too. interestingly it fits somewhat with the situation in hand..No one loves Sake more than the Japanese :D

I've had similar situations when some of my typos change the meaning altogether.

[SheilaT]

5. Here's another one:

5.0, near the east coast of Honshu, Japan.

It's really a cool little app.

[necso]

Somewhat tangentially,

the earthquakes near, below the south end of the Salton Sea are interesting.

[Paradoxical]

6. This earthquake will generate aftershocks for weeks if not months.

Assuming it is it's own independent event.

I'm already seeing aftershocks coming in in the 4.0 to 6.0 range.

[Raschel]

9. I read that they did issue a tsunami warning. This is a pretty shallow quake, I believe. It may

have caused a lot of damage.

[Paradoxical]

10. A 60 cm wave hit the Northern coastal area of Japan.

No damage reported.

There are also reports of no significant damage. Which is surprising considering that the epicenter was only 6 to 8 miles below the surface. But Japan has building codes that tolerate large earthquakes.

[RedCloud]

13. Maybe the ocean is just toying with us?