A question about Japan and EQs

Japan has multiple earthquakes seemingly all the time, we all know that. The amount they've had due to sitting on an active spot in the plates with at least one major fault line has helped them build their skyscrapers and other buildings to be quake proof with constant drills from school age children upwards. Most there know what to do in the event of an earthquake because they get so many.

Here's my question though.

If quakes in Japan are so frequent then how come both ATS and more importantly the MSM only just started reporting on them every time one happens since the beginning of this year.?

We had the big one in March but Sky News has flashed up and briefly mentioned earthquakes in the region since with a 7.8 reported only an hour ago. So what is it about 2011 that could explain this? We've had the same technologies and reporting for a number of years so why didn't we hear about Japanese earthquakes on tv or the internet since the big one in Kobe years ago?

May i ask you to expand on your post? Maybe to a suspicion?

Simply put for my answer is: Ratings. I live in Christchurch New Zealand. We don't get Earthquakes. After about a week worth of coverage and the announcement of no deaths, the world's media left and we were not big news even though the event was far from normal. Fast forward to the 22nd where over 150 people died, world media swarmed the city, making it front page news for weeks. Japan is a feast for the media as there are so many tragic calamities. 30,000 people dead, the scale of destruction, the possible effects on the world economy and ofcourse relating it back to the country of origin, especially the states.

They have only started reporting it for the ratings i believe. Other than that, I personally can not see another reason

Alot of people have recently discovered websites that allow you to see almost instantly when quakes happen. As such people now believe they are discovering things and are super geologists because of this new tool.

Originally posted by kro32
Alot of people have recently discovered websites that allow you to see almost instantly when quakes happen. As such people now believe they are discovering things and are super geologists because of this new tool.

Yeah, I purposely left out the website aspect because while they're always available, it seems people only visit them more because earthquakes have been on tv.

As far as the other member's response, there's nothing else I could have added to my OP. That was the big question, just why did we spend a decade and a half since Kobe hearing nothing about Japanese earthquakes and then suddenly this year every single 5.0+ quake is being reported on?

I could understand if it was a hot topic amongst the general public or if quakes were happening at this frequency in an area where they didn't normally happen much if at all but it just struck me as odd.

It's not even a ratings thing I don't think because it was just a scrawl along the bottom of the screen on the ticker while the main headlines were being discussed. If it was ratings then surely it'd be plastered all over the place with more discussion and constantly going live to the area.

IMHO The reason the media is reporting them all is because a) they are aftershocks of an horrific and historic earthquake and tsunami b) Fukushima is being watched closely and because c) they could well still expect a very large aftershock as part of the ongoing sequence which refers me back to b).

Originally posted by Semoro
May i ask you to expand on your post? Maybe to a suspicion?

Simply put for my answer is: Ratings. I live in Christchurch New Zealand. We don't get Earthquakes. After about a week worth of coverage and the announcement of no deaths, the world's media left and we were not big news even though the event was far from normal. Fast forward to the 22nd where over 150 people died, world media swarmed the city, making it front page news for weeks. Japan is a feast for the media as there are so many tragic calamities. 30,000 people dead, the scale of destruction, the possible effects on the world economy and ofcourse relating it back to the country of origin, especially the states.

They have only started reporting it for the ratings i believe. Other than that, I personally can not see another reason

Hi, from nr Darfield

reply to post by MoorfNZ


Your response raises a question: How long after an earthquake is it considered an aftershock, and not another earthquake? (We don't have to worry to much about earthquakes where I live).

They will continue to be classed as aftershocks as long as they continue to happen in the aftershock/quake zone and as long as they aren't bigger than the mag 9 quake (the mainshock) that started the sequence.

reply to post by MoorfNZ


thanks for the clarification. I was always under the impression that aftershocks were just that. then once those stopped (even for a day), it became an another eq.