Is nature conspiring against the Tokyo Olympics? First the event was postponed by the Covid pandemic. Then, as the games went on despite a widespread resurgence of the virus, a typhoon hit the Japanese capital last week. Temperatures and humidity have been uncomfortably high, and today the region was hit by a magnitude 5.8 earthquake and several aftershocks.
Memo to Mount Fuji: Stay cool, please.
No event disruptions or major damage has been reported from any of the quakes, which ranged from magnitude 4.1 to 5.8, and local authorities have ruled out a tsunami threat to the city that’s part of the notorious “Ring of Fire.” But media types in town to cover the Games of the XXXII Olympiad weighed in on social media about the shaking that was reported at about 5:33 a.m. Wednesday local time.
“Rolled for a good 20 seconds,” NBC News anchor Lester Holt tweeted. “Interestingly my crew 3 floors below me felt nothing.” CNN’s Will Ripley wrote: “I’ve felt the shaking for about 30 seconds. Still going.”
Watch on Deadline
Sunrise, a local morning show on Australia’s Seven Network, was just going live from Tokyo after a commercial break when the main quake hit. But announcer Mark Beretta was, well, unmoved. “We’re about 10 stories up,” he told the anchors. “We’re in a tower that at home would be made by scaffolding, but here’s it’s made of construction steel because it is earthquake-proof. But it started to actually rock and move.”
Beretta kept his cool, despite noting that it was his first earthquake. Below is the show’s tweet, followed by those from Holt, Ripley and others including a local Toledo, OH, reporter who joked about the quake’s unnatural origin.
“Welcome back to the Olympic city where we are currently in an earthquake”@MarkBeretta just powered through his sports report while Tokyo was being hit by a tremor 👊🏻 pic.twitter.com/O4pUxM1yHD
— Sunrise (@sunriseon7) August 3, 2021
I felt what appeared to be a mild earthquake here in Tokyo. Around 5:33 am Wednesday morning here. Rolled for a good 20 seconds. Interestingly my crew 3 floors below me felt nothing. Japanese meteorological agency reporting 6.0 magnitude.
— Lester Holt (@LesterHoltNBC) August 3, 2021
Two earthquakes at 5:33am and 5:43am (local time) off the coast of Hasaki, Japan, were felt in Tokyo, where the summer Olympics are happening. U.S. Geological Survey says they registered magnitudes 5.8 and 5.1. About 75 miles offshore & 6 miles deep. No damage or tsunami warning. https://t.co/TNIbOxYPdG
— Will Ripley (@willripleyCNN) August 3, 2021
A magnitude 6 #earthquake struck just east of Japan and was felt at the #Olympics. Meteorologists suspect this was caused by the aftershock of the shot put at the Games. #FirstAlert pic.twitter.com/BpL09OTRHm
— John Burchfield (@JohnWTOL) August 3, 2021