Major Earthquakes hit Japan and Andaman’s in India

Earthquake measuring 6.4 on the Richter scale hit Japan at 0507 (2007 GMT Monday) and 7.6 magnitude hit Indian ocean. The quake was centered in the Pacific Ocean, about 170km (105 miles) south-west of Tokyo and has led to 43 people getting injured. Japan lies on a major earthquake prone zone and has chances of big quakes.

Japan quickly shut down The Hamaoka nuclear plant in Shizuoka and the Shinkansen bullet train service to prevent any further damage. A highway at Makinohara, Shizuoka was badly damaged because of the landslide, leading to heavy traffic jams.

The quake in the Indian Ocean, close to the Andaman’s measured a whopping 7.6 on the Richter scale. It’s center was the Indian Ocean about 257km (160 miles) north of Port Blair in the Andaman Islands. This triggered a Tsunami threat and subsequent warnings were issued for India, Burma, Indonesia, Thailand and Bangladesh. However, the threat was later called off as conditions did not worsen.