Earthquake

I apologize for the late post. There was an earthquake off the coast of Japan on Friday. It was magnitude 7.3, but it was shindo (震度) 4 here in Tokyo. The earthquake occurred while I was still at work around 5:18 p.m. It was fairly strong up on the 7th floor, and it reminded many of my coworkers of the 3.11 quake. Overall, nothing fell over and we didn't suffer any damage, so no worries. The quake only caused a 1m high tsunami as well, so everything was fine. Honestly, that's more what we worry about here. Whether or not the earthquake will cause a tsunami.

The trains stopped probably for about 10 minutes, but they were running again quickly. The schedule was a bit off though. Although that sounds like something that you shouldn't worry about in the U.S., it is a big problem here. Most people do not own cars, and the majority of the population relies on the train system because it is punctual and the most efficient way to get to work. Shutting down the trains on 3.11 caused millions of people to have to walk hours home in the cold. Many people just ended up going to Red Cross shelters to spend the night until the trains could run on limited service again.

Japan normally doesn't measure its earthquakes by magnitude by the way. Although it is useful to understanding the original strength of the quake, we tend to use something called shindo (震度) here. This is literally the degree of the quake, or the quake's strength at your location. So, for example, most quakes are shindo 2 or 3 here in Tokyo if you feel them. These are barely noticeable. You might notice a piece of paper shaking slightly, or water moving, or something that hangs will swing, but unless you are really looking at something, you can ignore it with only a touch of vertigo.

Shindo 4 like the other day was what many people would consider as an earthquake. Although we were able to stand up, it was preferable to sit down. Computers would not fall off the desk unless they were close to the edge, but things would shake violently. Cabinets rattle, etc. Shindo 4 is not something you ignore. Places further up north felt shindo 5, which cause books and such to fall off shelves.

For more information about the earthquake strength system here, you can refer to the Wikipedia article here.