According to the US Geological Survey and the Japan Meteorological Agency, an earth tremor of magnitude 6.1 rocked Japan’s northern island of Hokkaido on Saturday. There are no signs of a tsunami.
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Hokkaido
Hokkaido is the northernmost of Japan’s main islands. It is the second largest island and is known for its natural hot springs, volcanoes and ski areas. Its capital is Sapporo.
Earthquake on Saturday
An earthquake of magnitude 6.1 on the Richter scale jolted the eastern part of Hokkaido at 10.27 p.m. on Saturday, according to the Japan Meteorological Agency. The quake occurred at a depth of 61 kilometers (38 miles) in the Nemuro Peninsula, as reported by the National Research Institute for Earth Science and Disaster Resilience (NIED). This shook a wider region, including northeastern Japan and eastern Japan. The epicentre of the quake, according to Japan’s Weather Agency, was Hokkaido, and the earth tremor registered a lower 5 on the country’s seismic intensity scale of 7. However, as of now, there are no reports of injuries or damages.
Previous Earthquakes
Hokkaido just faced its second earth tremor, within days of the first one. An earthquake of magnitude 5.1 rattled the northern island of Japan, Hokkaido, just on Monday. Residents were warned to be watchful against quakes for about a week.
After the quake off the coast, which was strong enough to shake the cities of Kushiro and Nemuro, there was no tsunami warning.
Japan is prone to earth tremors as it sits on the Pacific “Ring of Fire,” an arc of intense seismic activity that stretches through Southeast Asia and across the Pacific basin. The country has strict construction regulations imposed to ensure buildings can withstand strong quakes and routinely holds emergency drills to prepare for a major earth tremor.
Earthquakes around the world
Earlier on Friday, the National Center for Seismology (NCS) reported an earth tremor of magnitude 5.1 on the Richter scale in North Halmahera, Indonesia. No casualties were reported.
Lately, the world has watched a few enormous quakes, with Turkey and Syria facing the scariest in decades. On February 6, an earthquake of magnitude 7.7 rocked Turkey and wreaked major havoc, taking thousands of lives. The death toll from earth tremors in Syria and Turkey has crossed 50,000 since then.
