An earthquake with a 6.1 magnitude rating on the Richter scale occurred in northeastern Japan on late Wednesday. Officials have said that the quake took place deep under the surrounding seas, but thankfully there is no expectation of a tsunami. Local news is saying that Aomori Prefecture felt most of the trembler effects.
The U.S. Geological Survey reports that the 6.1 quake originated from roughly 107 kilometers (66 miles) northeast of Hachinoche, on the island of Honshu, and 119 kilometers (74 miles) southeast of Hakodate, on Hokkaido. It was measured to be from a depth of 40 kilometers (25 miles). There was no tsunami warning issued. Currently, there are no reports of serious damage or injuries in the area, and all nearby nuclear power plants have reported no impairment or irregularities.
On March 11th, 2011, Japan’s northeastern Tohoku region was destroyed by an earthquake of magnitude 9.0, and the resulting tsunami. The disaster left almost 19,000 people dead or reported missing, and reduced coastal towns to rubble, sweeping millions of pieces of debris into the sea, which in recent months has only begun to turn up on North America’s western coasts. In addition, the tsunami badly damaged the reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, causing the world’s largest nuclear meltdown since Chernobyl in 1986.