M6.6 quake jolts Hachijo Island, south of Tokyo

Thursday 13th August, 08:26 AM JST

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bcbrownboy at 10:07 AM JST - 13th August

North Kanto shook a bit.
Triumvere at 10:09 AM JST - 13th August

So, are we going to sink or something?
Nickybell at 10:29 AM JST - 13th August

Is there any English language emergency broadcasts about EQs? I heard about BS1/BS2, bilingual channel (English), but don't know what does it means?
Pump24 at 10:30 AM JST - 13th August

Sinking or growing. Might be nice to have a few extra cenimeters of land to enjoy...
buggerlugs at 10:49 AM JST - 13th August

Preshocks?? I think I'll be filling the car up and preparing that water too.
bogva at 11:00 AM JST - 13th August

Nickybell, I don't think you can hear emergency broadcasts in English. The news from 7pm on NHK as well as certain news at BS1 are bilingual. That means if you have TV or video deck that support you can chose the channel to listen (usually the SUB channel is English). If you engage both channels MAIN/SUB you hear Japanese on the left speaker, Eng on the right. Search for a button on the remote that changes the audio channels!

This morning quake felt no weaker than the 2 days ago one! May be didn't have that peak stroke but it was longer and shook quite well in Yokosuka/Yokohama. Agree it was good wake up call :)
pawatan at 11:05 AM JST - 13th August

It was a very nice alarm clock this morning, though. Much better than the 5am one the other day. Quakes in the middle of the night are too disconcerting.
Farmboy at 11:50 AM JST - 13th August

Nickybell,

If you know the name of your prefecture in Japanese, and where you are on a map, the emergency broadcasts say more or less the same thing. Be careful, protect yourself, etc. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A_8ZkBXVvMw

If you watch a few of these to understand the format, you can figure out what is going on without speaking or reading too much Japanese.
dpurcell84 at 12:18 PM JST - 13th August

I know in Nishi-tokyo all of the emergency instructions are in Japanese.
I felt it, but it did not seem to strong so I just went back to bed haha. Tired!
ca1ic0cat at 08:51 PM JST - 13th August

Everything in Ebina is Japanese too. Seems like a lot of earthquake activity from the Indian Ocean all the way to Japan in the past week. Hopefully this is just a "controlled" release of pressure rather than a precursor of a big slip.
Cicada at 09:40 PM JST - 13th August

This quake was 57km deep as opposed to the earlier one which was only 23km deep. But it was felt strongly on Hachijo Island.

Now as for the official announcement that recent quake was "unrelated" to the expected huge Tokai quake -- well, they only mean that it did not occur exactly on the subduction fault, only nearby the subduction fault. But as some posters have noted, no one really knows that it is or is not related. (I'm talking the 5:07 quake). Very well it could be a foreshock to an M8 Tokai quake or even a foreshock to another similar M7 "unrelated" quake. Look in history, and you will see that even sometimes there are series of large quakes (like Niigata in 2004). Even if they thought it was related, there is the likelyhood no consensus is reached on to tell the public about it anyway, so those official announcements are not too reassuring.

And an M7 quake will shake at least 10 times the hardest of the recent one (more like 100 times what most people felt) If you have no experience you cannot even imagine the difference!

My opinion is that it's a foreshock to the much bigger one that will happen within a year or two. And remember that even aftershocks of M8 are M7... So, do not feel safe or complacent!

But don't panic, either.
LHommeQuiMent at 10:46 PM JST - 13th August

JMA could not predict the Great Hanshin Earthquake in 1995 but most probably they will be able to predict the upcoming Great Tokai Earthquake. A section along Tokai area has not been ruptured since 1854 and needs to be ruptured soon. This rupture will cause an earthquake of magnitude 8.

Since the late 70's the government has been installing strain meters to detect the "pre-slip". They will be able to predict this major earthquake based on pre-slip detection.

JMA will issue information in three steps:

1) Tokai Earthquake Report

2) Tokai Earthquake Advisory

3) Tokai Earthquake Warning

But some seismologists say that pre-slip may occur unexpectedly or beneath the expected level.

For more info please see:

http://www.jma.go.jp/en/quake_tokai/guide.html

http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/national/20090813TDY03103.htm
pawatan at 11:44 PM JST - 13th August

My opinion is that it's a foreshock to the much bigger one that will happen within a year or two. And remember that even aftershocks of M8 are M7... So, do not feel safe or complacent!

Virtually impossible to say. All one can do is be prepared.
Cicada at 12:09 AM JST - 14th August

Virtually impossible to say. All one can do is be prepared.

Well, it is impossible to be sure, but there have been a series of electric-related anomalies in the past 3 years or so that have no explanation other than quake precursors. However, the interpretation of these anomalies (even if agreed as precursor) is not a sure thing, because there is little experience with them.

But for example the Hanshin quake was indeed predicted by high ion levels, but these concerns were never made public (and so caused controversy when the quake happened). Back then there was small group of people sure that a quake would happen, but unable to say anything about it.

These days ion-levels are being monitored in Kanagawa, but only some of the data is made public in charts. Many extreme anomalies have occurred, but once again there is no public discussion, because they do not fit the researchers' pre-conceived notions.

Indeed, prior to that 5:07 quake there were very high levels, which have now subsided. The researchers will claim a success, but they have accumulated many extreme readings that they do not share with the public because they cannot explain them.

My opinion is based on watching closely and interpretation of these extreme ion-levels (that have no known natural explanation) over the past 3 years, as intermediate-term indicators. (Their interpretive focus is on short-term indication). Thus, I think there will be more large land quakes in that area soon.

But you are correct that it is impossible to know, and this research, though run by Okayama University of Science, is not mainstream accepted.
Damien15 at 12:13 PM JST - 19th August

No earthquake prediction is mainstream accepted. There's no way to know for sure. If anything, solar eclipse should have an impact on plates. But apperently that doesn't happen all the time either.