[25-10-2004 01h00]
This week-end we went to hike not very far from Nikko, around 100km
away from Niigata. We stayed in a mountain hut and we were about to go to
our bedrooms when we felt a first earthquake at 17:76 (M6.8 on the
richter scale, felt like 5+ where we were). As the hut was made of
wood it made a lot of noise and we ran outside quickly. Just when we
came back inside a second shock occured (<5) and thus we went outside
again. At 18:03 we were back inside when the third quake occured (M6.1;
felt 5-). This time we did not go back inside and it was a good idea,
so we were already outside for the 5th quake at 18:34 which we felt as
the most intense (6-) but was only M6.1 according to official measurements.
After the 5th shock we stopped counting the quakes but they
continued. We came back in the hut at 19:30 as there had not been any
earthquake for 30 minutes. I wanted to take a bath but I was told that
for safety reason the gas had been stopped during the earthquakes and that the water of the
bath was thus cold. I said that a cold bath would be fine for me...
By Japanese standards the water may have been cold but the thermometer
was displaying 40°C anyway!
During my bath, I felt another aftershock (M5.8; felt 4).
The aftershocks continued during the whole night with various
intensity. Once we ran out of the room (0h34, M5.5; felt 4+).
We felt at least two more earthquake today and another one tonight
(0h33, M5.2 in Niigata, felt less than M3 in Tskuba).
A map of the Chuetsu earthquake is at
http://sparc1034.adep.or.jp/shindo/Screen/041023a.niigata.gif.
It is always possible to find details of the last earthqake in Japan
at
http://www.adep.or.jp/shindo/Screen/JFlash.html.
(Updated after each earthqake which means every 10 minutes at the moment).
An article about the Chuetsu earthquake published by the Japan times:
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/getarticle.pl5?nn20041025a2.htm.
A page about earthquake safety:
http://www.keishicho.metro.tokyo.jp/foreign/quake/preface.htm.
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