7.4 Magnitude Earthquake Felt in Tokyo Following Total Lunar Eclipse

On Wednesday, Dec. 22, 2010 (at the epicenter), a magnitude 7.4 earthquake struck in the Pacific Ocean near the Bonin Islands, sending shock waves as far as Tokyo and beyond. The timing was striking--within 24 hours of a rare total lunar eclipse.

Being from Los Angeles, you'd expect me to be used to such occurrences, but it's no secret that earthquakes and me don't get along.

I was fast asleep at the time-- 2:19 a.m. in Tokyo, 3:19 a.m. at the earthquake's epicenter (Dec. 21, 17:19 GMT)--but the shaking was enough to rouse me instantly. In a panic, I immediately slid under the desk on the other side of the room, a ritual that has become an automatic earthquake-response for me since my move to Tokyo.

After the shaking stopped, and the signature side effect of disorientation subsided, I logged onto Twitter to verify what I'd felt.

The first reports I read were of a 4.2 earthquake, but reports of an earthquake measuring 7.4 on the Richter Scale began to roll in at a rate of nearly a hundred per second within no time. It hadn't been a dream! Japan had most definitely been rocked by an earthquake.

Not only that, but tsunami alerts started to pop up too. Shortly after the earthquake, the Yahoo! Disaster Center (Japanese) warned those in the coastal areas of Japan to be on the look-out for tsunami waves between .5 and 1.0 meters in height. At this time, however, those warnings have been removed.

Regarding the solar situation at the time, some have speculated that the quake might be related to the recent lunar eclipse, citing apparent lunar relationships to earthquakes that occurred in 1999 in Turkey and 2004 in Indonesia (ATS).

But can the moon really have an effect on seismic activity?

National Geographic quotes James O. Berkland, a geologist from Glen Ellen, Calif., who cites a number of lunar-earthquake correlations as evidence of the moon's potential to affect seismic activity.

Examples include a maximum high tide in Alaska that happened on the same day as a magnitude 9.2 earthquake in 1964, as well as a full moon and its relation to the 2004 Indonesia quake. The connection between lunar activity and seismic activity has been pondered often, and there seems to be evidence to support such a connection.

Just like the earth affects quakes on the moon, Berkland suggests, so does the moon affect seismic activity on Earth. The recent earthquake off the coast of Japan seems to further support this idea, because of its timing in association with the recent Total Lunar Eclipse.

Due to the frequency of earthquakes throughout the world, however, perhaps the timing is merely a matter of coincidence. That one's up to you to decide!

Of course, aftershocks continue as we speak, many of which measure at least 5.0 on the Richter Scale, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. Aftershocks will likely continue for some time.

The Bonin Islands are an archipelago located in the Pacific Ocean south of Tokyo. Only two of the more than 30 islands in the Bonin Island Range are inhabited, with just under 2,500 inhabitants in total.

While the 7.4 earthquake was not centered in Tokyo, it was definitely felt here. As earthquakes are fairly common, I'm beginning to trust that Japan is truly safe when it comes to this type of potentially disastrous natural phenomenon. Despite this, though, I don't doubt that earthquakes will continue to make me nervous in the future.

The bright side for me is that apparently I'm past the stage of sprinting for the door, or frantically and irrationally running around in circles as soon as I feel the ground shake. The desk at least offers me a chance, right?

Sources
USGS Earthquakes "Magnitude 7.4 - BONIN ISLANDS, JAPAN REGION" 22 December 2010 (local time)
AboveTopSecret "7.4-magnitude earthquake off coast of japan" 22 December 2010 (local time)
Yahoo! Disaster Center (Japanese)
Roach, John National Geographic "Can the Moon Cause Earthquakes?"