An earthquake of magnitude 6.1 hit the sea off Japan’s southwestern islands on Friday. The shaking reached parts of Okinawa, the US Geological Survey said. Nobody reported injuries. No buildings came down. No tsunami warning went out.
The quake arrived at 1:04 in the afternoon, local time, or 0404 GMT, with an epicentre roughly 136 kilometers, some 85 miles, to the north-northeast of Hirara. USGS put its depth at a shallow 10 kilometers (6.2 miles). A monitoring account that tracks events of magnitude 5.0 and above placed it in the East China Sea, about 101 km from Okinawa.
The remoteness did most of the protecting. The epicentre sat in open ocean near the Okinawa Prefecture islands, and early monitoring reports saw no tsunami threat. For all its shallow rupture, the event sat far enough from populated coasts that damage reports never came. For significant quakes officials usually issue tsunami advisories; initial reports here carried none.
Earthquakes are routine in Japan. The islands sit on the Pacific Ring of Fire, at the junction of several tectonic plates, and the country records thousands of tremors every year. Most pass unnoticed. An offshore one like Friday’s rattles instruments more than people, though strong shallow ruptures can still shake nearby coasts.
All of the USGS figures are preliminary, and the authorities continued monitoring on Friday for possible aftershocks and any change in the impact assessment.
Sources
- 6.1-magnitude earthquake strikes off Japan's Hirara, no damage reported
- Strong 6.1 Magnitude Earthquake Strikes Offshore Near Japan’s Okinawa, No Immediate Damage Reported
