2005 Fukuoka Earthquake
The Fukuoka earthquake struck Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan at 10:53 am JST on March 20, 2005, and lasted for approximately 1 minute. The Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) measured it as peaking at a magnitude of 7.0 (6.6) and named it and its subsequent aftershocks the Fukuoka Prefecture Western Offshore Earthquakes (福岡県西方沖地震?). The quake occurred along a previously unknown fault in the Genkai Sea, North of Fukuoka city, and the residents of Genkai island were forced to evacuate as houses collapsed and landslides occurred in places. Investigations subsequent to the earthquake determined that the new fault was most likely an extension of the known Kego fault that runs through the centre of the city.
Fukuoka is not as seismically active as many other parts of Japan, and was known prior to the earthquake as one of Japan's safest locations in terms of natural disasters; the previous earthquake, a magnitude 5, had occurred over a hundred years ago and it had been centuries since the city had experienced a serious earthquake.
Read more about 2005 Fukuoka Earthquake: Description, M5.8 Aftershock On April 20
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“Through the din and desultoriness of noon, even in the most Oriental city, is seen the fresh and primitive and savage nature, in which Scythians and Ethiopians and Indians dwell. What is echo, what are light and shade, day and night, ocean and stars, earthquake and eclipse, there? The works of man are everywhere swallowed up in the immensity of nature. The AEgean Sea is but Lake Huron still to the Indian.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)