6.3 magnitude earthquake in Ibaraki, near Fukushima, on Dec. 28, 2016. Over 6,500 quakes felt across Japan in 2016

Earthquake rocks Japan near Fukushima nuclear power plant on December 28, 2016.

The 6.3 magnitude quake struck Japan’s Kanto region, the Japanese Meteorological Agency says.

It’s an area that neighbours the Tōhoku region, where Fukushima Power Plant had a disastrous meltdown in 2011.

English language news site The Japan News said the jolt was powerful enough to be felt in the region, part of Honshu Island.

While Japan’s NHK news agency said the tremors were felt throughout “wide areas” of the east coast, though the epicentre was not at sea.

The Tokyo Electric Power Company, which is still decommissioning Fukushima’s ruined reactors, said they were investigating the impact of the quake there.

“At the moment, we have not confirmed the impact of the earthquake on our main power facilities (including nuclear power plants),” the statement read.

Latest earthquakes in Japan:

The quake struck Ibaraki Prefecture at 9.38pm local time (12.38pm UK time). There were no immediate reports of damages or injuries. Ibaraki Prefecture has had 176 earthquakes in the past 365 days.

Japan has a long history of powerful earthquakes and sits within the world’s most active volcano and earthquake zone.

The zone, called the Pacific Ring of Fire, is home to 90% of earthquakes and 81% of the most powerful quakes.

Over 6,500 quakes felt across Japan in 2016

The number of earthquakes that hit Japan this year with an intensity of one or higher was 3.5 times the figure for the previous year.

The Japanese seismic scale varies from zero, which is imperceptible to people, to seven, the most strongly felt by humans.

Japan’s Meteorological Agency says that as of 7 PM on Thursday, 6,566 earthquakes of one or higher had shaken the country this year. Last year’s number was 1,842.

In 2011, Japan registered more than 10,000 such quakes that were aftershocks of the Great East Japan Earthquake that triggered tsunami. But the number of quakes had been on a consistent downtrend since then.

The agency cites the Kumamoto earthquakes as a cause for the increase in 2016. The serial tremors in the western prefecture led to more than 3,000 such quakes in April alone.

The agency says 33 quakes registered an intensity of “5 lower” or above. Many people find it hard to move and walking is difficult at the “5 lower” intensity.

In November, a quake off Fukushima Prefecture caused tsunami from Japan’s northern to western Pacific coast, with a maximum 1.4-meter tsunami in a neighboring prefecture.

Agency officials urge people to prepare for quakes and tsunami in their daily life because strong tremors could strike anywhere in Japan.

https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20161230_05/

December 30, 2016 - Posted by dunrenard | Japan | Earthquakes