Tokyo Earthquake 2012: 5.5-Magnitude Quake Rattles Japan Capital

A long earthquake shook Japan's capital Tokyo on Tuesday, April 24, 2012, according to reports. The preliminary magnitude reportedly was 5.5.

According to the Japan Meteorological Agency, the earthquake occurred at 5:22 JST. The USGS notes that a 5.4-magnitude quake occurred near the east coast of Honshu, Japan.

Japan correspondent for The Guardian and Observer Justin McCurry noted that the quake was "fairly big."

Comments

[georgemorris61]

01:56 AM on 05/29/2012

We need to get ready for the truth and reality of life on this planet, and stop living the illusion portrayed in the media. We live on a violent planet whether its man made or by nature. "It is what it is", so get ready.

[Kritikos]

03:41 PM on 05/27/2012

Its just a matter of time.

[professor]

03:22 AM on 04/27/2012

Don't worry. It's safe no matter how big the earthquake. Because nuclear power by its very nature is perfectly safe.

[Notsosurearewe]

04:30 PM on 04/26/2012

Meh. The Japanese see these all the time. Something like this might cause a few delays or even break a window or two, but don't expect the meltdown of an entire city. Life goes on.

[valhalladad]

12:34 PM on 04/26/2012

The latest;

http://theextinctionprotocol.wordpress.com/2012/04/26/poison-skies-hanging-over-japan-is-a-fukushima-nuclear-crisis-thats-far-from-over/

[jymfrancais]

09:56 AM on 04/25/2012

-Lots of trembling around the world lately.

[TNPoliceWife]

08:55 AM on 04/25/2012

My daughter is stationed in Japan in Yokusko and called home to say it woke her up. She said it wasn't too bad, just long.

[gip7]

05:33 AM on 04/25/2012

How come there's nothing on youtube about this??

[mudshark12]

01:30 AM on 04/25/2012

Poor Japan, they haven't recovered from the last one.

[wild vanilla]

10:06 PM on 04/24/2012

I hope no one got hurt... :(

[evilkittiebaby]

12:03 AM on 04/25/2012

my friend lives near Honshu and she said it didn't cause much damage.

[wild vanilla]

02:14 PM on 04/25/2012

I'm so glad. I hate to see all this happen to Japan.

[pllc]

09:41 PM on 04/24/2012

The North American, Pacific, Eurasian and Philippine tectonic plates bash into Japan's NESW flanks leaving it little breathing room to recover from quakes. It is a sad state of affairs but Japan will need to retool its entire infrastructure to manage as best as they can against what happened to them at Fukushima. The frequency of high magnitude quakes in recent years in Japan is alarmingly high. I understand they deactivated 49 of the 54 nuclear power plants until they figure out what to do. We are also told our nuclear plants are more safe especially the one San Luis Obisbo Bay at Diablo Canyon 200 miles North of LA with redundant safety features and desalinated water reservoirs for emergency cooling. It sits on a high bluff above the ocean so tsunamis can't reach the plant as it did at Fukushima. Hope they're right especially since it's situated on the Juan de Fuca and Cocos tectonic plates where the Andreas Fault runs through.

[mon chichi]

10:27 PM on 04/24/2012

Maybe the safest thing to do is for them to get rid of their nuclear power plants (NPPs), so they don't have to worry about natural disasters destroying the NPPs.

Isn't this quake much smaller than the one they had last year?

[mudshark12]

01:24 AM on 04/25/2012

A LOT smaller! The big one moved that whole country 6 feet and was a 9+ on the Richter scale.

[Aquarius Me]

09:31 PM on 04/24/2012

My gaaaaaaw...Japan is so dangerous now. D= And it's stupid cause Korean music artists are promoting there too ATM...OTL =="

[valhalladad]

07:03 PM on 04/24/2012

Now might be a good time to bring up the real possibility of evacuating a very significant portion of the population. High level events seem to be the norm for the foreseeable future. Would rather see them trickle out now rather than flood out later. This is vastly more important than Iran.

[Anthony C Stewart]

10:04 PM on 04/24/2012

oh sir.... for the US, how can anything be more important than Iran?
yeah, sarcasm just doesn't come over in written word....

[mudshark12]

01:28 AM on 04/25/2012

Keep trying, proper sarcasm is an art, it takes practice.

[Lahonda]

11:37 PM on 04/25/2012

Evacuate? To where. This is Japan!

[valhalladad]

07:53 AM on 04/26/2012

Don't know where and it is a monumental task but the levels of radiation are rising and are affecting people further and further away from Fukushima. This event is not over by a long shot.

[CabCurious]

06:27 PM on 04/24/2012

I lost count at 300 quakes of this or higher magnitude as aftershocks last year.

Tokyo is right where 3 major active plates collide.

The entire island moved a very significant distance last year.

[Joe Krumbach]

06:26 PM on 04/24/2012

It was Rush Limbaughumbug's jet landing....he had Chris Christiecream on board with him. Hard landing.

[herewegoagain2]

07:08 PM on 04/24/2012

That would never fly.

[havok563]

07:52 PM on 04/24/2012

But they'd be able to take off on Obama's big head and ears.

[Anthony C Stewart]

10:06 PM on 04/24/2012

and the joke would just make Rush soar on the subject :)