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4 killed, 141 injured after 7.4 quake hits Miyagi Pref, vicinity

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I felt the shaking here in Ota-ku last night. It was enough to wake me up from bed.

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I was deep in the dream....

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We all ran out from our 4th floor and was surprised to see from our neighborhood other gaijin were also out but the japanese were still inside their houses

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Wow! Sympathies to everyone just starting to get back to normal in Tohoku!

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My apartment in Ota-ku was shaking pretty good too.

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Good news. An aftershock of that size was to be expected but the damage was minimal. Japanese and gaijin of all different religious and political persuasions - we will get through this.

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Yeah, was a rude awakening in Tokyo. Lasted for a long time too. The earth is still angry. Don't get too complacent. Keep your emergency pack stocked and ready at the front door.

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It shook long and hard here - not as hard as 3/11, but hard enough to be considered a major quake, not an aftershock, in more normal times. Books falling off shelves, windows rattling, dogs howling.

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Don't get too complacent. Keep your emergency pack stocked and ready at the front door.

Good advice, that.

I'd also suggest taking the time to quake-proof your home: make sure your shelves are stable (you can buy kits at any hardware store to affix them to the wall), make sure that heavy objects are stored in low places - generally look around and ask yourself: if this falls, how much damage will it do?

Storing your glasses and plates under the counter (as opposed to in the overhead cabinets) keeps them more stable - and even if they do slide out, you'll only lose one or two because they're close to the floor. (take a guess how i figured that out...)

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Disullusioned and hokkaidoguy: Excellent reminders

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Shook a lot in Shinjuku as well. Laid up in bed with food poisoning but once the shaking started, forgot about my discomfort and was at ready with my Emergency Pack at hand. Stay safe everyone!

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"7.4 quake causes panic in Miyagi Pref, vicinity"

Panic?? I think this new headline needs to be toned back down.

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So many of us living in Ota-ku! Good advice, mostly common sense and I would also add: make sure cabinet and cupboard doors have positive catches/locks rather than just spring or magnetic catches. Be careful when opening a cabinet door after a shake because there could be things resting on the door which will fall out when you open it.

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I got a warning on my keitai about 30 seconds before i felt it in tokyo, so i new something wend down in miyagi, but i figured it was far so it won't kill me.

i guess it was about the same as the fore-shock a few days before the 3/11

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I was sleeping when my bed start shaking and makes me nervous...How i wish it will be over soon so people have peace of mind and free of stress,these kind of situation make all of us unsafe..

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I never even realized we got early warnings before these past few weeks, always turned on the TV after feeling a quake.

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You don't always get early warnings. And some of the early warnings tend to turn out to be a bit of a dud.

Better safe than sorry though, I guess.

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Remember how bomb shelters were popular during the Cold War? I think it is time to build earthquake shelters in this country.

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Disillusioned - Surprised to hear you are still in Japan. Your fear-mongering on the 12th (e.g. This is it, people!) was embarrassing, even by JT standards.

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I have a machine that gives warnings. this time it said "one minute until large quake, 30 seconds, 20 seconds, 10 seconds, prepare!" It was spot on this time, quite amazing.

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From JT articles, the progression of events:

9.0Mag hits, Tsunami series of aftershocks Tectonics reports a shift of 24 meters East/Southeast, Pacific Plate reverses direction 7.4 aftershock, possible Pacific Plate disengaging from Japan Faultline.

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"*7.4 aftershock, possible Pacific Plate disengaging from Japan Faultline."

If, IF this is what is happening, seismic (wave) pressure on Honshu is being relieved BIG TIME.

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I feel for the people in those shelters. Think about how on edge the quakes have made us here in Tokyo. Then imagine how you would feel after being in a city like Sendai for the past few weeks. So heartbreaking.

I agree this article should tone back the title. I didn't see anyone panic. People took rational precautions. Period.

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Too bad these warnings can't come a few hours or better yet a few days before the quakes.

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A 7.4 Mag compared to a 9.0 Mag Earthquake is on the order of about 100 times less powerful. Nothing like the 9.0 Mag..

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I have a machine that gives warnings. this time it said "one minute until large quake, 30 seconds, 20 seconds, 10 seconds, prepare!" It was spot on this time, quite amazing.

What is that called? I'd be interested in something like that.

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apecNetworks: The epicentre was nearer to the land this time, so although the magnitude was lower the amount of shaking where we live (Sendai) was quite similar. It made a big mess of our flat (again) and more things were broken, mostly the fragile, nice things. The walls of the building I'm working in look like a jigsaw puzzle with all the new cracks. It doesn't feel very safe and I'm heading for the exit at the first hint of a tremor. I will be a nervous wreck if this carries on much longer.

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Not too pleasant and it messed up the flat for a second time.Thankfully it was quite short and there was no blackout. I just hope they reconnect the gas in this part of Sendai soon as the cold water is getting depressing.

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Wow, it never ends. I was worried when I read that there were fatalities, but after reading the article, I'm not convinced this earthquake killed those people...it just helped along the elderly on their natural shuffle off this mortal coil.

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I read an analysis that projected a 30% chance of a major earthquake in Tokyo over the next 30 years.

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oxygen tank failed because of power outages.

wow, seriously that should have been prevented

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The chance of a major Tokyo quake is one area foreign media have looked at and Japanese media has ignored.

Foreign media turn to pure speculation when reality is hard to cover. I would imagine that everyone living in Tokyo know they are overdue for the next Big One. But using voodoo to predict it isn't helping anyone.

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@Smorkian

I have a machine that gives warnings. this time it said "one minute until large quake, 30 seconds, 20 seconds, 10 seconds, prepare!" It was spot on this time, quite amazing. What is that called? I'd be interested in something like that.

I am not sure what it is called but it costs 500 yen per month and is bought through my cable TV company JCOM.

It gives the same warnings the cell phones give, but it is a little bit more accurate.

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I read an analysis that projected a 30% chance of a major earthquake in Tokyo over the next 30 years.

I read one that said 50% chance, another that said 5% chance, and another that said the world is ending.

Truth is, nobody knows what they are talking about. These are random except for the fact that they are likely to occur on the plates. Aside from that, smoke out the rectum...

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To Scrote,

To actually experience the 7.4 Mag would be different than my perspective. I have pored over numerous plate maps and calculated probable flash points at points of pressure, but there are tooooo many variables to predict earthquakes. I can only post those changes occurring at the macro level. Great pressure has been relieved, but how that affects other plates, and how the plates drift is unknown. Only those lucky enough to have a unique dog that can sense an earthquake can be safer.

Those that survived the Tsunami b/c they had a 10 minute warning can attribute their lives to the work PM Koizumi and Cabinet undertook - it paid off.

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I'm from Tsukubamirai, Ibaraki...and I got the warning on my keitai 5 seconds before it hit. Most of my books fell off the shelves, small objects and my room table moved to the side. I thought it would start all over again. That was one hell of a scary aftershock. Jeez! :(

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The chance of a major Tokyo quake is one area foreign media have looked at and Japanese media has ignored.

Huh? Do you mean since the 3/11 quake? The Japanese media have been speculating about the next big Tokyo quake for decades, the concept is nothing new here, hence no need for the Japanese media to focus on it now. Everyone in Tokyo knows (or should know) we are overdue for a big earthquake here.

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I just returned to Sendai last night from 2 weeks in Canada so my kids and wife could chill and my parents would be relieved. What a welcome home! It knocked down everything in our house that the first one did and lengthened the cracks in the walls. It felt almost as strong as the first one but very abrupt- starting quickly and finishing quickly, whereas the 9.0 on the 11th started slow but grew and grew. At work now- place is a mess; lots of plaster, brick, flooding and even a wall that fell down.

B.T.W. Anyone want my T.V.? After doing face-plants during both quakes it now projects a psychedelic, vivid rainbow display that flows in waves across the screen. Pretty cool but hard to look at for more than a minute without getting an eye ache. I'll trade you for flashlight batteries.

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Huh? Do you mean since the 3/11 quake? The Japanese media have been speculating about the next big Tokyo quake for decades, the concept is nothing new here, hence no need for the Japanese media to focus on it now. Everyone in Tokyo knows (or should know) we are overdue for a big earthquake here.

I would agree with this. Even the JMA website has a section for great Kanto quake prediction. Certainly every Japanese person i've talked to has discussed it - it's inevitable, so what do you do? Engineer for the worst, hope for the best. No need to dwell on it.

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I was sleeping too at the time of the earthquake, here in Tochigi we felt it strongly too. I ran out of the house to a parking lot near my apartment! I couldn't get back to sleep since then, just watching news on tv and through the internet.. Just when I was starting to believe there would be no more aftershocks with this magnitude. But I'm glad there were no more tsunamis, I can only imagine how scared were the people living on the coastal areas..

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mokgohan, I sympathize with your tribulations and commend you for your tenacious retention of an excellent sense of humor. Good luck!

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Sarge: Too bad these warnings can't come a few hours or better yet a few days before the quakes.

Actually, we are getting warned I think. This is why we should get our stock of food & water, where to flee in case of tsunami, etc all the time. Big ones are over the corner everywhere at anytime in Japan.

recherche88: I read an analysis that projected a 30% chance of a major earthquake in Tokyo over the next 30 years.

Same thing said since over 30 years.

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30 percent chance over the next 30 years??... i could predict that...

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In Ibaraki-ken, approx. 20 km north of Mito, we could feel this new quake, but as far as I noticed, actually no damage and no power outage. In the time between we had renewed two bookshelves that had been falling down after the big one, and we also had improved the way the things are stored, like some good comments by other readers suggest, so yesterday, we were safe. Only a Bey-blade arena and a Lego Ninja go arena of the children were flying down from a shelf to a cushion the ground.

Of course the children were waking up and asked what happened, but 5 minutes later, they were back at sleep.

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most experts I have seen on TV say there is just as much chance of a big one in Tokyo as there is in Nagano or Hokkaido. Tokyo gets talked about more because there are more people to panic about Tokyo than in Nagano.

By the way, an aftershock of yesterday's size is normal within a month of a big one, according to the "experts" things should be calm now for the time being. The keitai warnings are great, hope they keep that up.

In the end, these are random, all experts will tell you that and they will also tell you there is no science to predicting them. If there was, Tohoku would have been evacuated BEFORE it hit.

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At the Onagawa nuclear plant in Miyagi Prefecture, which has been suspended, two external power supply units among three have failed,

This is scary.

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The foreign media did what Kan asked. The quake was a 7.1, not 7.4. Only 30 times different in intensity.

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noriyosan73: I've noticed that Japanese news is still saying 7.4, international news is 7.1.

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No time to be complacent now, 7.4 is nothing to laugh at, and here in Tokyo we are still very, very lucky.

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The Japanese government has continued to present a different view of the situation than the international news and international atomic experts. Thousands of dollars have been generated by local grocery stores in a small area in northern California for the Red Cross Relief Fund. In the United States alone it must be an astronomical amount. What is going on in the Japanese government? Hand wringing or action? People need housing, food, water and hope.

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At the Onagawa nuclear plant in Miyagi Prefecture, which has been suspended, two external power supply units among three have failed, This is scary.

From Wikipedia (and backed up by the Christian Science Monitor) The three units remain in cold shutdown since the earthquake of 11 March. Two hundred people who lost their homes to the tsunami took refuge in the plant.[9] The April 7th aftershock damaged 2 of the 3 external power lines to the plant but cooling was maintained through the third line.[10]

Relax, they were in cold shutdown (ie not reacting, with a core temperature of less than 100%) at the time, and it was 2 power lines, not power units. They are still fully safe, and not in danger. The backups are still on site and I believe fully functional.

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sorry, that was supposed to be core temperature of less than 100 degrees, not 100% My bad.

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Don't think there is any great suppression of news about a Tokyo quake going on, it is simply a "dog bites man" story. Common knowledge. Think that also explains why I don't pick up much anger or complaining about the foreign exodus among Japanese people I know. More like just confusion about what were such risk averse people doing here in the first place, I am confused on that one too, I can only rationalize living here by the fact that hometown is in the same or worse boat.

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The keitai warnings are great, hope they keep that up.

Debucho are you referring to the iphone app ゆれくる? I've found it hit or miss. Usually it chimes me just as the quake hits or a little after, but a couple days ago it actually gave me a 16 second warning, while last night it didn't even chime at all. I have it set to warn me for level 3 quakes or above in in my area of Tokyo and last night it was definitely a level 4 in this area according to the TV news.

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I see here the same thing I see on many sites, people are really attached to the old thinking that earthquakes are random and unpredictable. No offense but it is that attitude that gets people killed. This isn't 100 years ago when earthquakes were explained as having something to do with mountains and volcanos, and everyone was surprised when they happened. Seismology is really a very new science but they already have incredible knowledge and understanding of how things work. Now can they give you a time and date so you can plan your holiday around the quake, sorry for the inconvenience but they can't. But they know that subduction zone earthquakes are cyclical and predictable on a geological time frame, and they have charted them back 1000's of years using tsunami evidence. Inter- plate and shallow fault quake risk areas are identified and mapped out, and that is the important part, not prediction ability. Your doctor can't tell you when you are going to die either but you still listen to him. Intra- plate quakes much tougher to figure out but they are not the problem here anyway. The point is that in the 21st century we now have the knowledge and technology to prepare for what we now know are inevitable or likely events instead of standing around saying "bloody hell where did this come from ". You engineer and design for it like the village in Iwate where nobody died and you drill it into heads what to do in every situation. Hopefully Tokyo will be ready but Tohoku and of course TEPCO sure weren't. Time to start using what we know.

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Earthquake warning sytems can only pick up the low frequency waves from the epicenter and send a warning to the general area before the slower moving shockwave hits. The reliability has been especially sketchy since 3/11 because the quake took out more than half of the Northeastern sensor relays.

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Sad. So sad. One earthquake after another. and another. and another. Should countries near Japan expect such natural disasters too in the future?

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If the quakes continue into the summer, it'll be Shake 'n Bake, lol.

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Not even a niner. Go back to bed. That's what I did in Sendai.

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Too bad the tragedy happened again.

However, on a positive note,

a. Pretty clear to me the status of N-Plant entered a stable phase.

b. The radioactivity level in the seawater now should be far lower following temblor.

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@Sunjovi wrote:

We all ran out from our 4th floor and was surprised to see from our neighborhood other gaijin were also out but the japanese were still inside their houses

That's because:

A. The Japanese know that if you can run outside, it's not a strong quake. In a strong quake, it's impossible to even stand up, let alone run.

B. Running outside, if you could, is not a good idea* anyway because:

(1) Due to the density of construction in Japan, the only place buildings have to fall is into the street. It's actually better to be inside next to a sofa or bed or in the bath tub, etc.

(2) If you live in a house, there's a good chance that the roof tiles will slide off just as you're going out the door. (In case you don't know, those tiles are stone and very heavy. You don't want them landing on your head.)

*Running outside is a bad idea only in countries where concrete and block buildings are not reinforced with steel. If you live in a country where the only thing holding the blocks together is mortar, then forget the door and jump out a window.

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