Earthquakes in Japan

Japan suffered another earthquake in the southern region – 6.2 on the richter scale.

Two things worry the Japanese when it comes to earthquakes – the quake and the resulting tsunamis. Tsunami, by the way, is one of the few Japanese words that have made it into the mainstream English language.

Japan has four main islands, if you don’t count Okinawa or Sado or…Okay Japan, has four main islands.

This earthquake occured underground in the southern island of Kyuushuu. Southern and western Japan was affected.

Japan’s archipelago circles around the Sea of Japan. If you look at a map carefully and with imagination, the Korean peninusla, Northern China and Russian coasts along with Japan form a large circle which some think is a super volcano.

Japan is on the outer lip of the volcano..hence the frequent earthquakes and abundance of hot springs.

Last year there were earthquakes on the Sea of Japan side of the main island of Honshuu. My son, who lives quite close to the epicenter reported that they had aftershocks every 15 minutes for several DAYS!

If you are afraid of earthquakes, Japan is not for you. It will continue to rattle for a long time to come.