Major 7.2 earthquake rocks Northern Japan

[Brent]

http://earthquake.usgs.gov/recenteqsww/ ... 000390.htm

[Brent]

Last Updated: Tuesday, 16 August 2005, 03:11 GMT 04:11 UK

Earthquake rocks northern Japan

A powerful earthquake registering a magnitude of 6.8 has been felt in the Japanese capital Tokyo.

A tsunami alert has been issued for the country's Pacific coastal region, the meteorological agency has said.

Initial reports say there have been some casualties in the prefecture of Sendai, Kyoto News is quoted as saying.

Eyewitnesses have spoken of buildings swaying in the heart of Tokyo following the tremor, which struck around 1146 (02:46 GMT).

[feederband]

It says 7.2 is that correct.......

[Brent]

Yes... according to USGS. Initially it was a 6.8

Very very rough translation from AFP report:

Japan: many casualties in a very violent earthquake

TOKYO - a very violent earthquake, a magnitude of 6,8 on the open scale of Richter, occurred Tuesday at the end of the morning in Japan, making many casualties, according to first information's.

An alarm with the tsunami was launched but the waves remained of very modest width, announced the Japanese weather Agency.

Many people were wounded in the area of Sendai (northern of Japan), indicated service Kyodo the news, quoting the first-aid organizations of the city. But the authorities have on their side specified that they always carried out checks to establish the assessment.

According to first information's, at least 80 people would have been wounded when the roof of a gymnasium broke down in Sendai.

The epicentre of the seism which occurred with 11H46 local (02H46 GMT), was localised in the Pacific Ocean, with a score of kilometers to broad of the prefecture of Miyagi (northern).

The circulation of the high-speed trains and the activity of a nuclear thermal power station were stopped by precaution.

The jolt very lengthily and was strongly felt in Tokyo, to some 300 km of the place of the earthquake. The turns of the downtown area of the capital nippone wavered, noted AFP.

A cell of crisis was installation at the seat of the Prime Minister to face the situation.

"I was frightened by the violence of the jolt", declared with AFP Wakako Suzuki, 31 years, which lives the prefecture of Miyagi.

"I was on the first floor of the house, and I am sudden setting to pitch. And after there was long and dreadful series of horizontal jolts ", it added.

"My first-aid kit fell from the wall cupboard. I saw the neighbors leaving their houses suddenly ", it also testified.

Another living of Miyagi was lunching when the ground started to tremble.

"After having heard alarm with the tsunami, we left to look at the water level in our well which is supposed to increase in the event of tsunami. But the level had not moved ", it declared.

"a Little crockery fell from the racks. But it was all. We are again lunching ", it continued.

The seismic activity has been particularly intense for several months in Japan, including in Tokyo.

Last 24 July, Tokyo had already been touched by a violent one earthquake magnitude 6, which had made light casualties and property damages.

Japan is with the junction of four tectonic plates, undergoing thousands of jolts each year. The Archipelago records approximately 20% of the earthquakes more the violent ones in the world.