Strong earthquake strikes off Japan's Ryukyu Islands, no tsunami

Strong earthquake strikes off Japan's Ryukyu Islands, no tsunami

2011-11-08 10:39:52 GMT+7 (ICT)

NAHA (BNO NEWS) -- A strong earthquake struck the East China Sea northwest of the Japanese Ryukyu Islands on late Tuesday morning, seismologists said, but there were no immediate reports of damage and no tsunami alert was issued.

The 6.8-magnitude earthquake at 11.59 a.m. local time (0259 GMT) was centered about 218 kilometers (136 miles) northwest of Naha, a coastal city on Okinawa Island which is part of the Ryukyu Islands. It struck about 220 kilometers (136 miles) deep, making it a shallow earthquake, according to the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA).

Moderate shaking could be felt across the Ryukyu Islands, but there were no immediate reports of damage or casualties. The United States Geological Survey (USGS), which measured the strength of the earthquake at 6.9 on the regional moment magnitude (Mw) scale, estimated more than 1.3 million people in the region may have felt the quake.

Because of the depth of the earthquake, neither JMA nor the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center issued a tsunami watch or warning. "A destructive tsunami was not generated based on earthquake and historical tsunami data," the center said in a b ulletin.

Japan sits on the so-called 'Pacific Ring of Fire', an arc of fault lines circling the Pacific Basin which is prone to frequent and large earthquakes. Volcanic eruptions also occur frequently in the region.

On March 11, an enormous 9.0-magnitude earthquake struck off the coast of northeastern Japan, generating a devastating tsunami. The earthquake and resulting tsunami left at least 15,833 people killed while 3,671 others remain missing and are feared dead.

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