Another earthquake struck early this morning at around 05:07 – the first earthquake in I don’t know how long that was strong enough to actually wake me up!

Apparently it was less strong than the previous one 2 days ago (6.6 instead of 7.1), but this time it was NOT offshore and thus did more damage.   A tsunami warning was also issued, though the wave that struck was relatively tiny at 30cm high.

It’s been a quake-filled few days apparently, with a 7.6 shock also hitting India today but also thankfully no reports of casualties.

Me, I woke up to the sound of rattling but after not hearing anything falling over, squinted at my watch, realized I still had a precious 30 more minutes of shut-eye left, rolled over, and went back to sleep.  Ya really do get used to anything.

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Around 20:00 Tokyo time, an earthquake measuring between 6.9 – 7.1 on the Richter scale rattled most of Japan.  I was sitting home, eating dinner and watching TV, when I noticed my shelves start shaking, the dishes in the sink clattering, and the building begin to sway.  I know that earthquakes take place all the time (this is Japan after all, where 20% of the world’s earthquakes occur) but this is the first one I’ve physically noticed in a very long time.

I was a little concerned because I honestly haven’t felt such a strong one in…probably years.  It was strong enough to knock down a flashlight that was sitting atop of the drum!  Luckily nothing was damaged (at least externally, hope nothing in the building was rattled too badly) and my bookshelves held up just fine – I have to say I’m really glad I bought the supports for them!

I don’t mind small earthquakes to be honest – my take on the little ones (even ones like this that shake alot but don’t really do too much damage) is that they act as sort of “stress relievers” for whatever pressure is building up beneath the earth’s crust.  Given Japan’s location (right atop a spot where 3 continental plates meet and grind against each other), there is always talk of the “Big One/Tokai Earthquake” so the more of these small quakes we get, the merrier I say!

(The image below is taken from the Japanese Meteorological Agency, showing how today’s quake impacted Japan)

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