Earthquake

An earthquake (地震) just struck Japan.
Thankfully no 津波 (tsunami), injuries or property damage have been reported as of yet. But it was a pretty big earthquake…it registered as 6.1 on the Richter Scale or as a 5- on the 震度 (Shindo Scale) at the epicenter.

America and most other western countries use the “Richter Scale” to measure the intensity of earthquakes.
The Richter Scale simply measures the strength of the earthquake at it’s epicenter…it’s most intense point.
This scale technically has no upper limit but I believe the strongest earthquake measured on the Richter Scale was at 9.5.

Japan doesn’t use the Richter Scale. The 震度 (Shindo Scale) is used to measure the strength of earthquakes here.
This scale was invented centuries ago (unlike the Richter Scale, which was invented about 75 years ago), and it originally had only four levels.
Later it was increased to eight levels (0-7), and about fifteen years ago it was changed again to it’s current ten levels.
The ten intensity levels on the Shindo Scale are “0” (which is an earthquake too slight to be noticed by humans), “1“, “2“, “3“, “4“, “5弱” (“5-“), “5強” (“5+”), “6弱” (“6-“), “6強” (“6+”), and “7“.

Another difference between the Richter Scale and the Shindo Scale is that unlike the Richter Scale (which simply assigns an earthquake an intensity based on it’s strength at the epicenter), the Shindo Scale assigns an earthquake different intensity ratings for everywhere that it affected.

For example, the earthquake that just struck Japan a couple hours ago was rated as “6.1” on the Richter Scale (as I mentioned above)…but on the Japanese Shindo Scale it was rated as “5弱” (“5-“) in the 東北地方 (“Tohoku Region” of Japan) which was closest to it’s epicenter.
“5-” level is strong enough to cause furniture to fall and even crack walls and damage pipes.
But in the Tokyo area (where I live), it was a level “3” which is strong enough to shake houses but doesn’t usually cause anything to fall over.
Nothing fell in our house…but it was shaking and it’s quite an unsettling feeling!

I hate earthquakes.

Today's earthquake was a level 3 in Tokyo and 5- in Tohoku on the Shindo Scale.

Have you ever experienced an earthquake?

Earthquake

Yesterday was the fifteenth anniversary of the 阪神淡路大震災 (Kobe Earthquake).
It was a level 7 earthquake that flatten the Kobe area of Japan and killed over 6,000 people.

Click here to read the post that I wrote about the fourteenth anniversary of this quake last year.

And one year earlier, in 1994, an earthquake hit southern California in America.
Both the California earthquake and the Kobe earthquake happened on January 17th…only a year apart.

Of course everyone knows about the recent earthquake in Haiti last Tuesday.
Hopefully that country can recover from the damage soon.

I hate earthquakes but they’re a fact of life in this part of the world.
Growing up in Florida I never experienced an earthquake until I came to Japan.

The fifteenth anniversary of the Kobe, Japan earthquake and the sixteenth anniversary of the California one…as well as last week’s quake in Haiti made me remember the major earthquakes that happened around the world in the twenty years since I came to Japan.

Do you remember:
△ 1990 June – a level 7 earthquake killed about 50,000 people in Iran,

△ 1991 October – a level 6.8 earthquake killed about 2,000 people in India,

△ 1992 December – a level 7.8 earthquake killed about 2,500 people in Indonesia,

△ 1993 September – a level 6 earthquake killed about 9,700 people in India,

△ 1994 January 17 – a level 6.8 earthquake killed about 60 people in California, USA,

△ 1995 January 17 – a level 7 earthquake killed about 6,000 people in Kobe, Japan,

△ 1996 February – a level 6 earthquake killed about 300 people in China,

△ 1997 May – a level 7 earthquake killed about 1,500 people in Iran,

△ 1998 May – a level 6.6 earthquake killed about 4,000 people in Afghanistan,

△ 1999 August – a level 7.6 earthquake killed about 17,000 people in Turkey,

△ 2000 June – a level 7.9 earthquake killed about 100 people in Indonesia,

△ 2001 January – a level 7.7 earthquake killed about 20,000 people in India,

△ 2002 March – a level 6 earthquake killed about 1,000 people in Afghanistan,

△ 2003 September 25 – a level 8.3 earthquake killed zero people in Hokkaido, Japan,

△ 2003 December 26 – a level 6.6 earthquake killed about 31,000 people in Iran,

△ 2004 December 26 – a level 9 earthquake killed about 228,000 people in Sumatra,

△ 2005 March 28- a level 8.6 earthquake killed about 1,300 people in Sumatra,

△ 2005 October – a level 7.6 earthquake killed about 80,000 people in Pakistan,

△ 2006 May – a level 6 earthquake killed about 5,700 people in Indonesia,

△ 2007 August – a level 8 earthquake killed about 500 people in Peru,

△ 2008 May – a level 7.9 earthquake killed about 87,500 people in China,

△ 2009 September – a level 7.5 earthquake killed about 1,100 people in Indonesia,

△ 2010 January 12 – a level 7 earthquake in Haiti (death toll currently unknown).

Have you ever experienced an 地震 (earthquake)?