A 6.1 magnitude earthquake struck early Friday in the sea that separates three of Japan’s main islands, about 100 miles southwest of Hiroshima, the Japan Meteorological Agency said.
The quake happened at 2:07 a.m. and was centered in the Inland Sea at a depth of 80 kilometers, the agency said.
The earthquake posed no tsunami risk, according to the agency.
The Inland Sea separates Japan’s largest island, Honshu, from the southern islands of Shikoku and Kyushu.
A strong magnitude 6.1 earthquake rattled the Java region of central Indonesia on Saturday, the U.S. Geological Survey reported.
The epicenter of the quake was 39 kilometers (24 miles) south-southeast of Adipala.
An earthquake of this magnitude can cause a lot of damage if it hits a very populated area, according to a Michigan Tech seismology website.
Sutopo Purwo Nugroho, a spokesman for the National Disaster Mitigation Agency, said the quake rocked the southern coast of Java for 30 seconds, sending people fleeing houses and office buildings.
According to Nugroho, the quake damaged several homes in the southern part of Central Java.
Experts once advised people to run for a doorway when the earth begins to shake, now that’s out the window and scientists suggest jumping under the nearest table.
Two Israel scientist have a solution for that: earthquake-proof tables.
Designed to withstand downward impacts of up to one ton, the table is the brainchild of Israeli inventors Arthur Brutter and Ido Bruno.
Brutter and Bruno say the idea came out of the pressing need to protect school children in the developing world at risk of death and injury when earthquakes that strike their structurally unsound schools.
Then Brutter witnessed footage of 2010’s catastrophic Haiti earthquake in which an estimated 200,000 people died as poorly constructed homes and schools easily buckled in the face of the 7.0 magnitude temblor.
‘I looked at pictures of a school that was crushed in the earthquake in Haiti and they really shocked me,’ he said.
The solution is a cheap to make, easy to lift table for school children that can withstand massive impact when used as shelter from earthquake debris.
The tables, when placed in rows like classroom desks, also act as a means of escape.
With debris halted above, students can crawl through the clear passageways created by the tables, as can rescue workers.
First tested by the Israeli military, the desk is now undergoing strict testing at PaduaUniversity’s Structural Engineering department in Italy.
According to Brutter and Bruno, some 300 million school children worldwide are at risk from earthquakes because their buildings aren’t prepared for them. The team sees their earthquake proof table as a way to prevent deaths and injuries.
The two have been applauded around the world for their invention and received numerous awards.