Strong quake hits off Japan's Bonin Islands, generates false readings elsewhere

Strong quake hits off Japan's Bonin Islands, generates false readings elsewhere

2010-12-23 05:53:09 GMT+7 (ICT)

TOKYO (BNO NEWS) -- A strong earthquake struck off Japan's Bonin Islands on early Thursday morning, seismologists said, generating false earthquake readings elsewhere in the world.

The 6.5-magnitude earthquake at 7.49 a.m. local time (2149 GMT Wednesday) was centered approximately 146 kilometers (91 miles) east-northeast of Chichi-shima on the Bonin Islands, which are also known in Japan as the Ogasawara Islands. It struck about 10 kilometers (6.2 miles) deep, making it a shallow earthquake, according to the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA).

The United States Geological Survey (USGS) measured the strength of the earthquake at 6.3 on the Richter scale, slightly weaker than Japan's estimate.

Neither JMA nor the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center issued a tsunami watch or warning as a result of the earthquake, which happened a day after a 7.5-magnitude earthquake struck nearby. Thursday's earthquake is believed to be an aftershock.

Soon after Thursday's earthquake, the USGS and the West Coast and Alaska Tsunami Warning Center reported that a strong 6.5-magnitude earthquake had struck the North Pacific Ocean, some 873 miles (1404 kilometers) northeast off Hilo, Hawaii.

However, seismologists later determined that the earthquake in the North Pacific Ocean was a false reading, generated by the earthquake off Japan. Strong earthquakes sometimes generate false readings elsewhere in the world.

In addition to the false readings off Hawaii, other false earthquake readings were seen in Taiwan and China.

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