7.3 earthquake and a tsunami warning

[jeisan]

First big earthquake I've experienced since arriving, haven't felt one that strong since the 90s when I lived in California.

Anyway, my thoughts go out to those near Sendai and closer to the coast than I.

 

[thomas]

Unusually strong also here in Kanagawa, a double whammy. I hope everyone is alright.

 

[Mark of Zorro]

I felt it here in Chubu too. It lasted a long time, but it was just a mild side to side shaking. My wife was driving at the time and felt nothing.

Its usually the up and down quakes that are destructive, so I thought little of that one. But 7.3 you say? That is a big one.

I just turned on the TV. It was just a 2 here.

I sure hope they have shored up the walls around those reactors, both the ones the melted down and didn't. Last thing we need is any of them out of control again because of a tsunami.

 

[nahadef]

I heard it was only 5 at its biggest. It was about a 3 in Hokkaido . Still, it was a long one. Very, very noticeable.

 

[undrentide]

It was felt in Tokyo, too. As I'm working on the 17th of a building, it swayed a lot.
(That gave me a bit of sea sickness....)
Lifts were stopped for inspection, now they started operating again.

It seems that tsunami of 1m high is observed at the coastal area of Miyagi and Fukushima.

 

[jeisan]

JMA has it as 7.3 at the epicenter, a 4 here, and 5- in the next town over. I'm still getting used to that scale, felt like a high 5 or 6 on the Richter to me. It was probably the longest one I've experienced, had a very wavy feeling at the end too.

One interesting thing was that my cell phone sent out an alarm for it about 30 seconds before I felt it.

 

[ejay1]

how big of an earthquake could make a tsunami??

 

[Glenski]

Tsunamis can be centimeters to meters in height.

JMA has it as 7.3 at the epicenter, a 4 here, and 5- in the next town over. I'm still getting used to that scale, felt like a high 5 or 6 on the Richter to me.

Sounds like mixing of the magnitude scales here. Japan uses 7 as max, I believe.

 

[RolandtheHeadless]

We just had a 5.8 here on Monday, very close to town. Pictures rattled on the walls, a few things fell off of shelves.

The results depend a lot on how far and how deep a quake is.

 

[zoomingjapan]

I didn't feel anything here in Kansai.

Luckily there was not tsunami. The tsunami warning was released around 7pm again.
In Miyagi Prefecture 5 people were brought to hospital with slight injuries.

Let's hope that's it for now.

 

[Xaero]

I felt quite a wobble in Saitama it lasted quite long, my wife was on a bus and said wouldn't have known if another passengers earthquake alarm on a kaitai didn't go off.

I hope that's the biggest we get for this year now, and it's not an indication of a bigger one coming soon.

 

[undrentide]

how big of an earthquake could make a tsunami??

Tsunami is caused by an earthquake when the epicentre is in the sea.
You cannot tell just from the magnitude, it also depends how deep the epicentre is.

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For those interested in JMA seismic intensity scale:
Japan Meteorological Agency seismic intensity scale - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
While magnitude scale is to show the quantity of energy of the earthquake which remains the same wherever you are, seismic intensity scale is an indication of the severity of the earthquake, it changes depending where you are to feel it.
Even when the Richter scale is very big, if the epicentre is far away or very deep below, the intensity scale can be quite small where you are.