Scientists at British Geological Survey (BGS) at West Mains Road have been called upon to offer expert advice on today’s Japanese earthquake which occurred at 5.46 am Japan UTC time.
A series of YouTube videos from BGS explains how they record earthquakes.
Dr Brian Baptie of BGS compares the Japanese earthquake to the one which took place last month in New Zealand.
The earthquake occurred 100 km from the east coast of Japan and measured 8.9 on the Richter scale. Around 1000 people are reported dead by the BBC as at 21.00 as well as many casualties.
Dr Roger Musson, BGS Head of Seismic Hazard,said:-
‘This is the sixth largest earthquake that’s ever been recorded since seismographic records began in 1900.
It’s certainly the largest earthquake to have affected Japan in the last century and considerably larger than anything else in living memory in Japan.
The largest previously was the 1923 Kanto earthquake, the one that caused so much damage in Tokyo, that was only 7.9. That’s 30 times less powerful than this one.’
The world is still reverberating from last month’s earthquake in Christchurch, which resulted in the deaths of at least 166 people.
For more information visit British Geological Survey.
