A strong earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 7.1 has rocked the coast of southern Japan as tsunami advisories have been triggered in the region, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.
The epicenter of the earthquake is just a dozen miles off the coast of the city of Miyazaki on the island of Kyushu in Japan.
Miyazaki, with a population of approximately 400,000 people, is now on alert for potential tsunamis in the aftermath of the quake.
The epicenter was located in the Hyuganada Sea, just off the eastern coast of Japan’s southern main island of Kyushu, and was measured at a depth of about 30 kilometers (18.6 miles). The Japan Meteorological Agency issued a tsunami advisory, predicting waves of up to 1 meter (3.3 feet) along the southern coast of Kyushu and nearby island of Shikoku.
People have been urged to stay away from the coast or river and have been warned that other quakes — even on the same magnitude –may occur.
Video filmed by Ryosuke Take, an employee at a local radio station in Kirishima on Japan’s island of Kyushu, shows objects in the office vigorously shaking.
“The shaking was very strong,” Ryosuke told ABC News. Listeners also reported that “in private homes, dishes fell from kitchens, and nearby hotels have reported that their elevators and kitchens are unusable.”
One area in Kochi prefecture is ordering residents to evacuate but drastic sea level changes have not been reported.
The quake registered a lower 6 in the hardest-hit areas — very high on the Japanese shake scale, which goes from 0 to 7. It would’ve been strong enough to knock over furniture, damage some concrete buildings and even topple some wooden ones.
However, there are currently no reports of any major damage and shaking was not felt in the capital city of Tokyo. Additionally, there have been no change or irregularities reported with regional nuclear plants so far.
🔴 Un tremblement de terre de magnitude 6,9 vient de se produire au #Japon, au sud de #Miyazaki. pic.twitter.com/4JHRmsmpDl
— Guillaume Séchet (@Meteovilles) August 8, 2024
M5.2 quake and aftershocks in California
Parts of California have been hit by more than 50 earthquakes in just 12 hours.
The United States Geological Survey (USGS) has detected at least 57 quakes with in 20 miles of the epicenter, Kern County, which unleashed a 5.2-magnitude Tuesday evening.
The swarm has ranged from 2.6 to 4.5 magnitudes, with the largest striking at 12:10am Wednesday.
Seismologists said the state is seeing a ‘robust aftershock sequence, with a 4.5-magnitude just 45 seconds after the mainshock.’
The initial earthquake happened at 9:09am PST about 14 miles southwest of Lamont.
However, the USGS noted that aftershocks typically become less frequent with time, ‘although they can continue for days, week, months or even years for a very large mainshock.’
The agency also said there is a 21 percent chance the area could see another earthquake with a magnitude greater than 5 within the next week and a two percent chance of a magnitude greater than 6 hitting.
Tuesday’s earthquake is currently the strongest to strike California this year, with a 5.2-magnitude detected near Canyondam on May 12, 2023.
The Los Angeles Fire Department confirmed Tuesday night that ‘earthquake mode’ was initiated, prompting all 106 neighborhood fire stations to conduct a surveys of the area by land, sea and air.
‘There are currently no initial reports of structural damage or injuries. An update will be provided once LAFD Earthquake Mode is complete,’ officials said in a news release.
Residents in Ventura, Simi Valley, Camarillo, Santa Clarita, Encino, Hollywood, Santa Monica, North Hollywood and Woodland Hills reported feeling the shake.
While the strongest quake was felt more than 100 miles away from the epicenter, many of the aftershocks may have gone unnoticed.
An assessment from Michigan Tech University showed that people typically do not feel quakes with a magnitude of 2.5 or less.
Those from 2.5 to 5.4 are often felt but only cause minor damage.
A Los Feliz resident described feeling three different waves one weak, followed by a strong one, then again by a weak one in the span of 45 seconds.
While in South Pasadena, another person felt 20 seconds of shaking, contained in two distinctive waves.
An average of five earthquakes with magnitudes of 5.0 to 6.0 occur per year in California and Nevada, according to the Los Angeles Times.
Bakersfield is located near several major faults, including San Andreas that experts fear will one day unleash a devastating earthquake up to an 8.3-magnitude that has been deemed the ‘Big One.’
According to the California Earthquake Authority, the natural disaster would cause destruction in a 100-mile radius of the fault line, which starts near Eureka and ends below Palm Springs, killing at least 1,800 people, crumble millions of homes and cause more than $290 billion in damages.
The next major earthquake that will strike Los Angeles would likely spark 1,600 fires, trap 750 people inside buildings – taking two and a half weeks of search and rescue efforts, according to the US Geological Survey (USGS).
According to the Concrete Coalition, as of 2011 about 16 to 17,000 concrete buildings across 23 of California’s most earthquake-prone zones could fall when the next big quake hits. The zones include San Francisco (3,200 homes), Oakland (1,300 homes) and San Jose (363 homes).
California’s last 7.8-magnitude earthquake hit San Francisco in 1906 and left 3,000 people dead and $524 million in property damages in 1906 – which amounts to $117 billion in 2024.
A separate 7.9-magnitude quake struck the outskirts of the Los Angeles area in 1857, but fortunately only two people were killed because the area wasn’t populated at the time.
Known as the Great Fort Tejon earthquake, it is the second largest every recorded in US history, destroying property as far away as Santa Cruz – more than 220 miles away.
Given that 9.7 million people live in the Los Angeles area as of 2022, if the same magnitude occurred today, it would cause billions of dollars of damages and would likely have a substantial loss of life, according to the Los Angeles Almanac.
The USGS has indicated there is a 60 percent probability that the southernmost area of San Andreas will rupture within the next 30 years exceeding a magnitude of 6.7.
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