"Strong earthquake shakes Tokyo", apparently

"The Japan Meteorological Agency said an earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 6.9 shook the Japanese capital of Tokyo and surrounding areas today". "No casualties were immediately reported, according to media reports". "It was felt throughout northern and central Japan, but there have been no immediate reports of damage or injuries". "In 1995, a magnitude-7.2 quake in the western port city of Kobe killed 6,400 people".

Umm, that would be the earthquake I totally failed to notice? I believe I was on an underground train at the time. Coming home to find such dramatic reports as above speckling the international media I was somewhat bemused and made a hasty check out of the window to see if I'd missed any scenes of major destruction. Tokyo, I can assure you, is still standing. This, dear drama queens of the international headline writing community, is because the dramatic-sounding magnitude 6.9 quake took place quite a way out to and under the sea, and might have caused death and mayhem in Fishopolis but only registered as a 4 on the Japanese "How strong did that feel?" scale, which translates into "strong enough to cause anyone who does feel it to say 'Oooh! Did you feel that one?' and very instable objects to possibly fall down". The only report of material casualties I have personally heard is of a toothbrush which tipped over, although it sustained no lasting damage.