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The '2005 Miyagi earthquake' was a powerful earthquake that struck the east coast of the Japanese island of Honshū at 11.46am (02:46 UTC) on August 16, causing casualties, building collapses and power outages.

Contents

Earthquake characteristics

Damage and casualties

Aftermath

References

Humanitarian, economic, and environmental impact

External links

Earthquake characteristics

The earthquake began on Tuesday, August 16, 2005, and affected Japan's northeastern coast. It triggered a tsunami warning, and buildings shook 200 miles away in the capital, Tokyo. It was initially estimated to have a rating of 6.8., and the U.S. Geological Survey later registered it as a 7.2. ^[1]

Damage and casualties

A tsunami warning was initially raised by the Japanese meteorological agency, but was lifted after only two small waves several centimeters high hit shore.^[2] Casualties included those killed because of a pool roof collapse in Sendai city, Miyagi prefecture. Initial reports indicated 80 people were injured, but it was later reported by state broadcaster NHK that one person was seriously hurt and thirteen were slightly injured. Seventeen thousand people lost power.^[3]

Aftermath

Business resumed within a day. Japan's Earthquake Research committee said that the earthquake was not the big one that has been predicted to strike in the next 30 years.^[4]

References

1. Quake Shakes Buildings in Tokyo
2. Earthquake rocks northern Japan
3.

Humanitarian, economic, and environmental impact

20% of the world's earthquakes are centered around Japan. The Japanese have been developing systems for early warning of earthquakes. For people of the city of Sendai who were testing the new earthquake warning system, they received a warning of the earthquake from the Meteorological Agency 16 seconds before it reached the city, providing time to take cover. People in Tokyo received a message one minute before it hit. Such technology has since become much more popular and this quake is credited for that, since it was 60 miles off the coast of Japan and there was time for a warning. Japan Lays Groundwork for National Earthquake Warning System McNicol, Tony
4. See Investigation Earthquake Sequence Miyagi Prefecture (PDF).

External links

★ Headquarters for Earthquake Research

★ Seismological notes from the Earthquake Research Institute, The University of Tokyo