2011-03-16
By Editor
In the early hours of this morning, a magnitude 6.2 earthquake struck south of Mt. Fuji, about 70 miles southwest of the capital city Tokyo.
This event is likely to cause damage to buildings and property in the range of US$1-2bn, according to a statement made by cat modeling firm Eqecat. They do not expect insured losses to exceed US$500 million, however, with about half of these being ceded to the Japan Earthquake Reinsurance Pool.
The quake struck at a depth of 6 miles (10km), about 70 miles (11km) southwest of the capital city Tokyo. The earthquake epicenter is reported to be at 35.3°N, 138.7°E.
Today’s earthquake is within a separate earthquake fault system from the Tohoku Pacific Offshore earthquake from last week, and primarily affects the cities immediately to the south of Mt. Fuji, including the towns of Fuji and Fujinomiya. At this point, it is unclear if this earthquake is more closely associated with volcanic activity at Mt. Fuji, an active volcano that last erupted in 1707–08.
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