6.2-magnitude quake in Hokkaido latest to shake Japan; no tsunami warning issued
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The early morning quake occurred at a depth of 80km in the Tokachi region of Japan's northern main island.
PHOTO: SCREENGRAB FROM GERMAN RESEARCH CENTRE FOR GEOSCIENCES (GFZ)
TOKYO - A strong earthquake rattled Japan’s northern island of Hokkaido early on April 27, US and Japanese meteorological agencies reported, the latest in a series of powerful tremors to hit the island nation.
The 6.2-magnitude quake struck at 5.23am (4.23am Singapore time) in Hokkaido’s southern region, at a depth of some 80km, the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) reported, revising its preliminary estimate of 6.1 magnitude.
No tsunami alert was issued, JMA said, and the US Geological Survey predicted that damage to property and threat to life was minimal, given the limited population in the region some 200km east of Sapporo.
But “in areas that experienced strong shaking, the danger of falling rocks and landslides has increased”, a JMA official told reporters.
Hours earlier, a 5.0-magnitude earthquake occurred in the sea a few hundred kilometres south of Hokkaido.
The temblors come less than a week after JMA warned of an increased risk of a megaquake – 8.0-magnitude or stronger – after April 20’s 7.7-magnitude earthquake off northern Iwate prefecture.
Six people were reported injured as a result of that quake, which shook large buildings in Tokyo, hundreds of kilometres from the epicentre.
In addition, 80cm-high tsunami waves lashed a port in Iwate, while small waves also hit elsewhere in northern Japan.
Afterwards, JMA said “the likelihood of a new, huge earthquake occurring is relatively higher than during normal times”.
Japan is one of the world’s most seismically active countries, sitting on top of four major tectonic plates along the western edge of the Pacific “Ring of Fire”.
The archipelago, home to around 125 million people, typically experiences around 1,500 jolts every year and accounts for about 18 per cent of the world’s earthquakes.
Japan is haunted by the memory of a massive 9.0-magnitude undersea quake in 2011, which triggered a tsunami that killed or left missing around 18,500 people and caused a devastating meltdown at the Fukushima nuclear plant. AFP
