Japan braces for aftershocks as M7.3 quake injures over 150
Japan s northeastern region braced for aftershocks Sunday following an earthquake of magnitude 7.3 overnight that injured more than 150 people, cut power and water, and disrupted bullet train services, with some residents looking weary as they tidied up the mess in their homes and shops.
No deaths were attributed to the temblor that struck at 11:07 p.m. Saturday, registering upper 6 on Japan s seismic intensity scale of 7 in parts of Fukushima and Miyagi, the prefectures devastated by a magnitude-9.0 quake and tsunami in March 2011 that left more than 15,000 people dead and triggered a nuclear crisis.
Worried of aftershocks, resident sleep in car after quake
February 15, 2021
A house damaged in the recent earthquake in Japan
FUKUSHIMA, Japan – On Sunday morning, a few hours after a 7.3-magnitude earthquake struck off Japan’s northeastern Fukushima Prefecture, far fewer cars were seen on the expressways, while some sections of the Joban Expressway were closed due to landslides.
The strong quake, which hit late Saturday near the eastern coast of the Honshu island, was measured Upper 6 in Soma city in Fukushima in seismic intensity on the Japanese scale which peaks at 7, reports Xinhua news agency.
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More than 150 people were reported injured in the quake as of Sunday. Apart from Fukushima and Miyagi prefectures, injuries were also reported in six other prefectures, including Chiba, Kanagawa and Saitama, all neighbouring the capital Tokyo.
Shoddy tunneling work is being blamed for a series of cave-ins in busy Chofu city, western Tokyo.
An experts’ panel set up by East Nippon Expressway Co. explained in a report released Feb. 12 that the company had been tunneling deep underground for its Tokyo outer ring road when a number of cave-ins occurred and huge cavities formed.
According to transport ministry officials, this is the first such instance in connection with a law that took effect in 2001 related to the usage of underground areas at great depths.
The report found that heavy bore machinery encountered difficulties tunneling into the bedrock. Chemicals were poured into the site to facilitate the work. But that led to the machinery excavating an excessive amount of dirt and creating cavities in the area above the machinery that formed the uppermost section of the tunnel.
Environmental News For The Week Ending 20December 2019
This is a collection of interesting news articles about the environment and related topics published last week. This is usually a Tuesday evening regular post at
GEI (but can be posted at other times).
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Note: Because of the high volume of news regarding the coronavirus outbreak, that news has been published separately:
Some of the COVID-19 graphics presented in the above articles have been updated below.
Also, mentioned in two articles near the end of the disease collection is that there is a new strain of the virus circulating in southeast England that is 70% more infectious than the common strain. Since these news collections were assembled, England has locked down London and several European countries have restricted travelers from the country. I expect that we ll have more news on that in this coming week.