Quake 3

~Another moderately strong earthquake hit the region of Japan where I live. The earth began shaking at around 9:43 am by my clock, and it was significantly stronger than the last one. Fortunately, the epicenter of the earthquake was not, like the last one, centered on my town, but rather several hundred kilometers away in Ishikawa Prefecture.

With an estimated magnitude of 7.1, today's quake was much stronger than the 4.6 from January. It also lasted longer; there was perhaps a whole minute of moderate shaking, followed by another minute or so of small tremors.

Here in Nagaoka, I couldn't detect any damage, but according to news reports the quake caused several buildings to collapse in Ishikawa Prefecture and injured 150 people. An elderly woman was also killed when a stone lantern in her garden fell on her, and 1,000 people have been evacuated from their homes in case of aftershocks. I'd hate to see what an earthquake that strong would do to Nagaoka.

As I say, never a dull moment here in Japan...~Oyasumi!