Large earthquakes reported in Indonesia and Japan

Thursday, September 11, 2008 

Two powerful earthquakes occurred on Thursday morning (around midnight UTC), one in Indonesia and one in Japan. There are no initial reports of casualties or damages. Tsunami alerts were issued, later expired.

According to the United States Geological Survey (USGS), a magnitude 6.6 earthquake hit Indonesia at 09:00 local time (midnight UTC). The focus was located 98.3 km in depth The epicenter was located 120 km north of Ternate, Moluccas, and 2460 km east-northeast of Jakarta. USGS also reported Japan was hit by a magnitude 6.9 earthquake at 09:21 local time (00:21 UTC). Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) estimated the focus at depth of 31 km, off the southeast coast of Hokkaido. Five aftershocks were felt by 17:00 with small shakes observed. The largest one was estimated as magnitude 5.4 by the USGS.

The affected countries issued tsunami warnings, which were expired later. As to Indonesia no tsunami occurred within the expected time. Tsunamis of up to 0.2 m were observed in Japan by 17:00, according to JMA.

Sources

• "USGS report (Indonesia)" — USGS, September 11, 2008
• "USGS report (Japan - 6.9)" — USGS, September 11, 2008
• "USGS report (Japan - 5.4)" — USGS, September 11, 2008
• "Powerful earthquakes strike Asia" — BBC, September 11, 2008
• "Powerful earthquake rattles northeastern Indonesia" — Associated Press, September 11, 2008
• "Magnitude 7 earthquake hits northern Japan" — Associated Press, September 11, 2008
• "Major quakes hit Japan and Indonesia" — CNN, September 11, 2008
• "北海道・東北北部沿岸の津波注意報を解除" — Yomiuri Shimbun, September 11, 2008(Japanese)
• "2008年9月11日09時21分ころの十勝沖の地震について（第２報）" — Japan Meteorological Agency, September 11, 2008(Japanese)