Very strong aftershock near Iwaki (Japan) – at least 7 people injured

Internacional - Última hora

Last update: July 30, 2011 at 11:27 pm by By Armand Vervaeck and James Daniell

We kindly ask Japanese people and ex-pats living in the greater earthquake area and who have felt this earthquake to share their information with earthquake-report.com (form below).

Earthquake Overview : A very strong coastal earthquake at an intermediate depth and with an epicenter only 18 km from Iwaki occurred in the night of July 31 2011.  NO tsunami advisories or warnings have been published for this earthquake. Today’s earthquake is a very strong aftershock of the March 11 earthquake

Shaking map (yellow = MMI VI) - courtesy USGS

UPDATE 23:21 UTC : Official reports are indicating that at least 7 people were injured during this earthquake (1 person in Sendai, 2 in Koriyama, 2 in Mito, 1 in Hitachi Omiyma and 1 in Chikusei. No reports on damage yet.

UPDATE 21:48 UTC : As reported earlier in this article, Earthquake-Report.com fears the combination of the TORRENTIAL RAINS, overflowed rivers ( in Niigata and Fukushima prefectures) and the shaking of this aftershock.

About 207,000 people in 15 municipalities of the 2 prefectures have been evacuated to shelters, as of 8 PM on Saturday. The evacuation has been been called by authority advisories.

At least 3,000 houses have been flooded in the prefectures.

To give you an idea of the severe weather in the area, click here to watch the NHK video.

UPDATE 21:30 UTC : WAPMERR the (theoretical) damage and injuries prediction engine has reported that they do not expect any damage or injuries from this earthquake.  Theoretical engines are however not reflecting the torrential rains in the area.

UPDATE 21:23 UTC : 2 other persons have been reported injured in Mito (Ibaraki prefecture)

UPDATE 21:10 UTC : We are waiting for additional reports which will certainly arrive within 4 hours.

UPDATE 21:07 UTC : FDMA reports 2 people injured at Koriyama.

UPDATE 21:06 UTC : Fukushima nuclear plants are reporting “NO DAMAGE”

UPDATE 21:06 UTC : The strongest prefecture hit is also in this case Fukushima, the prefecture where the problematic TEPCO nuclear plant is located.

UPDATE 21:02 UTC : JMA has NOT called a tsunami advisory or warning for this very strong earthquake.

UPDATE 20:57 UTC : the Iwaki people are fortunate that this earthquake occurred below the (coastal) seabed and that the depth is 40 km. Below land, the conditions would have been a lot more dangerous.

UPDATE 20:51 UTC : Seismological data from all the major agencies in the world are almost similar. JMA, the Japanese specialists are reporting a magnitude of 6.4 at a depth of 40 km.

UPDATE 20:51 UTC : reports are mentioning extreme rainy weather in some parts of Japan.  Together with a strong shaking, this can become a very dangerous cocktail.

UPDATE 20:41 UTC  : It is too soon to declare this aftershock harmless. We are currently in the middle of the night in Japan and we need at least a couple of FDMA reports before we will have a good picture of eventual damage and injuries.

UPDATE : the 5+ intensity has been reported in : Naraha-machi Kitada* Kawauchi-mura  and Kamikawauchi-hayawata*.

UPDATE : The following locations have been reported as 5- JMA intensity : Koriyama-shi Kaisei*, Shirakawa-shi Shin-shirakawa*, Shirakawa-shi Higashi*, Hirata-mura Nagata*, Tamura-shi Miyakojimachi*, Iwaki-shi Nishikimachi*, Fukushima Hirono-machi Shimokitaba-oyachihara*, Kawauchi-mura Shimokawauchi, Kawauchi-mura Kamikawauchi-koyamadaira*, Katsurao-mura Ochiai-ochiai*

UPDATE : Today’s earthquake is a very strong aftershock of the March 11 earthquake

UPDATE : JMA, the local seismological service reports a 5+ intensity (on a scale from 0 to 7). 5+ is the level that Earthquake-Report.com cannot guarantee an harmless earthquake.

UPDATE : 460,000 people will have experienced a strong VI shaking and 3,076,000 a moderate V MMI shaking (data USGS)

Very strong coastal earthquake with an epicenter only 18 km from Iwaki.

NO tsunami risk for this earthquake.

Most important Earthquake Data:

Magnitude : 6.4
UTC Time : Saturday, July 30, 2011 at 18:53:52 UTC
Local time at epicenter : Sunday, July 31, 2011 at 03:53:52 AM at epicenter
Depth (Hypocenter) : 43.5 km
Geo-location(s) :
18 km (11 miles) ESE of Iwaki, Honshu, Japan
77 km (47 miles) SE of Koriyama, Honshu, Japan
84 km (52 miles) NE of Mito, Honshu, Japan
184 km (114 miles) NE of TOKYO, Japan

Fuente: EarthQuake - Report