Magnitude 6.4 Hits Southwestern Japan Coast

A magnitude 6.4 earthquake hits 70 miles off the coast of Southwestern Ryuku Islands, Japan. Subsequently the Japanese government issued a 1.6 feet tsunami advisory at 15:30 JST 07 February, but canceled it after an empty hour. Meanwhile, no tsunami alert has been issued by the U.S. government.

The strong earthquake hit 70 miles (115 km) off the coast of South-South-West Ishigaki-jima, Ryuku Islands, Japan at 6:10 AM western time. Its undersea epicenter was located 140 miles ESE of Taiwan, where residents said they could feel buildings rattle, and 1280 miles SW of Tokyo, Japan. The earthquake originated from a poorly constrained depth of 10.3 miles in its hypocenter, as indicated by the U.S. Geological Survey. (Complete USGS statistics here.)

USGS measured the earthquake at magnitude 6.4. However, Japan Meteorological Agency officially recorded it higher at 6.6. Fortunately no immediate damages to property or lives anywhere in east Asia had been reported after the said earthquake.

Japan Meteorological Agency initially released a tsunami advisory, alerting Japan of a 1.6 feet-high tsunami at an expected time of arrival for each particular island in the Miyakojima and Yaeyama Area. The warning previously excluded possible damages to some of the other coasts aside from slight sea level variations. (Entire advisory here.)

The advisory, however, was canceled as off 16:15 Japan Standard Time, February 7. None of such expected tsunamis was reported and no further damages were incurred.

For the U.S. West Coast, the WCATWC website issued a formal statement that a tsunami IS NOT expected in California, Oregon, Washington, British Columbia, Alaska, or any place other than coastal locations that felt the earthquake. In such locations, possible occurrence of high waves should be expected due to underwater landslides.

If the West Coast was cleared to be safe from any aftermath of the 6.4 Japan earthquake, regions outside California are to await further announcements coming from the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center in Ewa Beach, Hawaii.

Sources;

Japan Meteorological Agency

U.S. Geological Survey

West Coast Tsunami Warning Center