Japan earthquake: Magnitude 6.0 quake shakes Tokyo Olympics
There’s no threat of a tsunami, authorities said
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Your support makes all the difference.A 6.0 earthquake occurred off the coast of Japan early on Wednesday morning, sending out tremors felt by those at the Tokyo Olympics.
Authorities warned, however, there was no threat of a tsunami, according to the Japan Meteorological Agency. The quake, which struck around 5:30am local time on Wednesday, has an epicenter about 40 kilometers (25 miles) from land, deep off the coast of Japan, according to preliminary reports.
The quake first occurred more than 6 miles deep in the waters near the town of Hasaki, which is about 75 miles east of Tokyo, according to the US Geological Survey.
Anecdotal reports from witnesses suggested it lasted between 20 seconds and 3 minutes, and didn’t cause any damage. Australian journalist Mark Beretta was in the middle of a live broadcast from on top of a temporary broadcast tower when the earthquake began.
“Welcome back to the Olympic city where we are currently in an earthquake, an earth tremor,” he told viewers. “The roof above us is moving and you might notice our lights and camera are moving as well.”
“That was quite an unusual moment, I have not been through an earthquake before,” he added.
Japan, situated on top of converging tectonic plates, is no stranger to earthquakes, and some venues have specific technology to protect against. The Ariake volleyball arena has giant rubber cushions built into the facility to limit earthquake damage.
Other facilities are protected from related threat. Olympic Village has a seawall meant to stop tsunamis as tall as 6.5 feet."For organisers, infection measures are an urgent challenge," Hirotada Hirose, a Japanese specialist in disaster risk studies, told AFP. “But the risks of a major earthquake mustn’t be forgotten when you have an Olympics hosted by Japan.”
Japan is situated within the “Ring of Fire,” an arc of intense seismic activity and active volcanoes that circles Southeast Asia.
In 2011, an earthquake triggered a tsunami that killed 18,500 people and caused the Fukushima nuclear disaster.
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