Earthquakes hit Japan (6.8), China (6.3), Indonesia (6.5, undersea)
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Amid the growing demand worldwide for unmanned aerial systems designed to assist in search and rescue missions following major disasters, three major earthquakes occurred over the weekend in Indonesia (Friday), China and Japan. The iHLS newsdesk follows these three separate earthquakes by chronological order:
Ternate, Indonesia – A strong undersea earthquake hit off the coast of eastern Indonesia on Friday, but there were no immediate reports of injuries or serious damage and officials said it was unlikely to trigger a tsunami.
The U.S. Geological Survey said the earthquake measured magnitude 6.5 and struck about 122 kilometers (76 miles) off Tobelo, a coastal town on Halmahera Island in North Maluku province. The USGS said it was centered at a depth of about 38 kilometers (24 miles).
Chengdu, China – The death toll of a 6.3-magnitude earthquake which hit Kangding County in southwest China’s Sichuan Province had risen to five as of 3:30 p.m. local time Sunday.
A strong earthquake struck a lightly populated, mountainous area of western China on Saturday, killing at least one person, injuring 15 others and causing at least two homes to collapse, officials and state media said. The quake struck 39km (24 miles) northwest of Kangding in the mountainous west of the province at 4:55 p.m. local time at a depth of 14km (nearly 9 miles), the USGS said. China’s seismological agency said the quake’s magnitude was 6.3.
The area is frequently struck by earthquakes. Newly constructed buildings in the town of Kangding must be able to withstand those of up to 8 in magnitude, although requirements are less strict in the surrounding rural area.
Along with the two collapsed homes, Kangding’s regional airport sustained some damage, though flights were not disrupted, Xinhua News Agency said.
Wang Dan, a spokeswoman for the government of Ganzi prefecture, which includes Kangding County, said rescue teams had been dispatched to the epicenter.
Japan, ten p.m. local time: a strong earthquake hits Hakuba, near Nagano in central Japan, the location where the 1998 winter Olympics was held, knocking down at least 10 homes in a ski resort town and injuring several people, officials said.
The magnitude-6.8 earthquake struck shortly after 10 p.m. (1300 GMT) at a depth of 10 kilometers (6 miles), the Japan Meteorological Agency said. The U.S. Geological Survey measured the quake’s magnitude at 6.2. Since the quake occurred inland, there was no possibility of a tsunami.
Nine people were trapped underneath the collapsed houses, but they all were rescued, and none had life-threatening injuries, said Hakuba official Tomoyuki Shimokawa.
Japan’s Nuclear Regulation Authority said no abnormalities were reported at three nuclear power plants in the affected areas. All of Japan’s nuclear plants are offline following a magnitude-9.0 earthquake and massive tsunami in 2011 that sent three reactors at the Fukushima Dai-ichi plant into meltdown. Fukushima is about 250 kilometers (155 miles) northeast of where Saturday’s earthquake occurred.
The quake was followed by 21 aftershocks, said Yohei Hasegawa of the Meteorological Agency’s earthquake and tsunami division. He warned of further aftershocks and urged residents to watch out for landslides. The area was struck by a magnitude-6.7 earthquake the day after the massive March 2011 quake.
