Comment by tristanj
9 hours ago
The earthquake magnitude was revised up to a 7.7
No major tsunami is expected, local media reported initial waves were recorded as high as 40cm. The Japan Meteorological Agency forecasted up to 3m (10ft) waves.
I don't believe this earthquake is a big deal. Large earthquakes (M7.0+) happen in Japan several times a year, and given this happened in the middle of the ocean, I don't expect any major damage.
Yes, this is definitely only a medium deal, given that the tsunamis were mild. There is the usual concern that it might be a foreshock for a bigger quake but that's fairly unlikely.
Plenty of disruption (including a bunch of the shinkansen lines) and annoying evacuation up on the coast.
I will say that this was the longest swaying I've felt in my Kawasaki tower mansion apartment since moving here three years ago -- things were still moving about 5 minutes after it started.
For anyone interested as i was. The Fukushima disaster was the result of a 9.1
And the fact that it is exponential, meaning that a magnitude 9 earthquake is more than 1000 times stronger than a magnitude 7