Earthquake + a little geography lessons

28th July @ 3.36pm (SIN) 

Was busy around the house when I saw down to rest awhile and saw the missed message from M about an earthquake in Kumamoto occurring 9 mins ago. Kumamoto is about 100km away from her. 

I exclaimed out at home, and hubby nodded. Yah he knows the news even faster than me. Coz I was working around the house so missed the news many many many minutes later 😉. 

This is how Google map looks like now ❤️

Although earthquakes is so common and she’s more experienced / calm than me I can’t help but worry for her. 7.1 by Japan Meteorological Agency (6.8 by USGS Earthquake Hazards Program) leh! Is she alone at home at that time so I messaged to ask about her. Thank goodness it’s the summer holiday so the girls are at home. M her youngest was holding on the bookshelf and the other hand on Instagram. Haha! My first response was “posting in Instagram?” 

The wanna-be geologist

This super crazy n scared getting dirty me wanted to be a geologist before 😂😂. I told my Geography teacher, Mrs Quintal that before. Ok I can’t be a geologist but that doesn’t stop my interest. I had just a little free time as I was having my dinner so went to check. 

If you do not know, in geography class we learn of the tectonic plate boundaries. But they are not the only fault lines, there are thousands of fault lines across the world with lots of regional fractures.  

How many fault lines in Kyushu?

Kyushu has dozens of individual active faults grouped into major designated fault zones, with the Japanese government specifically tracking 6 major active fault zones of primary regional significance alongside the island's broader rift systems. 

Major Fault Systems and Zones

Hinagu Fault Zone: Extends northeast-southwest through Kumamoto Prefecture and the Yatsushiro Sea, heavily involved in recent major regional seismic activity.
Futagawa Fault Zone: Runs alongside the Hinagu system in central Kyushu, forming a prominent strike-slip and normal fault network.
Japan Median Tectonic Line (MTL): Japan's longest fault system, which cuts across the eastern and central parts of the island.
Beppu-Shimabara Graben: A complex rift and volcanic zone cutting across central Kyushu packed with numerous active normal faults

Which fault line caused this earthquake? 

The likely culprit is the Futagawa-Hinagu fault zone, the same system that devastated Kumamoto in April 2016

Zoom in closer to Kyushu. 

This pic taken from : https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Tectonic-map-view-of-Kyushu-Solid-lines-T1-T4-indicate-Matsuyama-Imari-Oita-Kumamoto_fig16_334437046

Read the short article, the same link as above. Click HERE

What kind of fault caused this earthquake 

Like most earthquakes, strike slip fault caused this earthquake. 

Click HERE for description and animation of the different kinds of fault 

Other interesting links :
A blogger wrote about the 2016 Kumamoto earthquake. Very interesting but very wordy. Click HERE

Not related to Kumamoto’s earthquake but was checking things when I saw there was earthquake in China in late morning. Haha! The earth seems to rattle all the time that nobody pays attention to everything. 

Click HERE for article on this earthquake 

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While editing this post days later, as usual, I came across this article from this FB group