20 MARCH 2011 BY: BNO NEWS
TOKYO (BNO NEWS) -- A strong earthquake rocked northeastern Japan on late Sunday evening, seismologists said, but there were no immediate reports of damage or casualties.
The 5.8-magnitude earthquake at 9.03 p.m. local time (1203 GMT) was centered about 90 kilometers (55 miles) east-southeast of Morioka, the capital city of Iwate prefecture. It struck about 50 kilometers (31 miles) deep, making it a shallow earthquake, according to the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA)
The United States Geological Survey (USGS) measured the strength of the earthquake at 6.1 on the Richter scale, considerably stronger than Japan's estimate. The USGS estimated that some 604,000 people may have felt moderate to strong shaking.
Japan is on the so-called 'Pacific Ring of Fire', an arc of fault lines circling the Pacific Basin that is prone to frequent and large earthquakes. Volcanic eruptions also occur frequently in the region.
Most recently, on March 11, an enormous 9.0-magnitude earthquake struck off the coast of northeastern Japan, generating a large tsunami. The earthquake and a resulting tsunami left more than 8,000 people killed and more than 13,000 others remain missing.
And before that, on October 25, a powerful 7.7-magnitude earthquake struck just off the Mentawai Islands off the western coast of Sumatra in Indonesia, also on the Pacific Ring of Fire. As a result, a wall of water killed at least 435 people on the islands and impacted more than 20 villages.
On December 26, 2004, one of the most powerful earthquakes ever recorded struck off the west coast of Sumatra. The 9.1-magnitude earthquake unleashed a deadly tsunami, striking scores of countries. In all, at least 227,898 people were killed.
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