We had experienced two strong earthquakes in Tokyo just in two days!
Sunday night, an earthquake with a magnitude of 7.1 occured at around 8pm and I was talking to my sister over the phone. Learning that earthquake occurs here as much as typhoons occur in the Philippines, I am just monitoring if it would become stronger. A minute had passed and the fixtures in my room were already moving. I stood in panick, cutting my call to my sister with an alarmed voice. I checked outside and the big electrical wires connected to my neighbor’s house was still moving…
I already slept at 2 am this morning, only to be awaken by another earthquake with a magnitude of 6.4 this time at around 5am. I was already shaking as I was still puzzled should I go out or stay at home. I am not sure if the quake was really long as I was asleep.
AS of this writing, I am watching the japan news discussing why the earthquake happened this morning. They were saying that the Philippines` (tectonic) plates moved which affected the Honshu (Main island, which includes Tokyo) region of Japan. There were probably a panic in their voices but still giving assurances to people that the great Tokai earthquake, which everyone dreaded to occur, will not happen yet…
(The Tokai Earthquake is a prediction that an earthquake with a magnitude of more than 8 will likely to occur in Honshu region, for an interval of 100-150 years. Most of the Japanese believe that it may break the Honshu island into two, because the main island is located just below two different tectonic plates–the Philippine plate and Eurasian plate. And a movement of these plates result into the inevitable …)
http://geology.about.com/od/eq_prediction/a/aa_tokaiquake.htm
http://geology.com/news/2006/11/tokai-earthquake-prediction-japan.html
Some preparations for the earthquake can be found in these sites–
http://www.yia.or.jp/earthquake/Earthquake_en.pdf
Earthquake monitors-
http://www.jma.go.jp/en/quake/
http://earthquake.usgs.gov/eqcenter/recenteqsww/Quakes/quakes_all.html
