Japan. Bonin Islands have 86 Large Earthquakes, December 2010. WWII History.

JAPAN has had EIGHTY-SIX LARGE QUAKES between Tuesday and Thursday (their time) in the BONIN ISLANDS. I have never seen so many large quakes in one location, rapidly occurring one after the other, in the past three years since I have been monitoring quakes worldwide. View the details at http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/recenteqsww/Quakes/quakes_all.php. The magnitudes for this list are astounding: 7.4, 5.4, 5.6, 5.6, 5.4, 5.1, 5.4, 5.1, 5.0, 5.1, 5.0, 5.1, 5.1, 4.9, 4.9, 4.7, 5.3, 5.4, 5.1, 5.2, 5.1, 5.1, 4.7, 5.3, 5.1, 5.0, 4.8, 5.1, 5.3, 5.4, 4.9, 5.2, 5.1, 4.8, 5.0, 5.1, 4.8, 4.8, 5.3, 4.9, 5.5, 5.2, 5.0, 4.9, 4.9, 4.9, 5.0, 5.2, 4.9, 4.9, 5.0, 5.1, 4.8, 5.1, 5.2, 5.1, 5.4, 5.1, 5.0, 5.0, 5.0, 5.1, 5.0, 5.0, 5.1, 5.0, 5.1, 5.1, 5.0, 5.3, 5.1, 4.7, 4.8, 4.8, 4.7, 6.3 TAKE NOTE, 5.0, 4.9, 4.8, 4.8, 5.2, 4.9, 5.1, 5.1, 5.0, 4.8.

The issue about whether any of these quakes caused a tsunami can be researched at http://www.weather.gov/ptwc/index.php?region=0 but I am seeing "no tsunami" for the largest 7.4 quake. However, a site called Earthquake-Report.com, "Quake SOS" by ArmandArmand Vervaeck at http://earthquake-report.com/2010/12/22/m-6-earthquakes-2/ states that Japan did issue a Tsunami alert for at least one of the dozens of quakes and there is discussion about what happened, including evacuation of citizens.

"Villagers from Ogasawara (the nearest location) did evacuate in shelters and were prepared for the worst. The earthquake was also felt as a JMA 2 = MMI III, in big parts of mainland Japan. There were no immediate reports of injuries or damage from the quake, which measured 4 on the Japanese seismic scale of 7 on Hahajima and Chichijima islands (= MMI VI) in the Ogasawara island chain, according to JMA."

Another research link for the USGS earthquakes' map is http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/recenteqsww/Quakes/usc0000rxc.php. This is a massive seismic event. From the above-mentioned report, it sounds like God protected everyone from major tsunamis. The situation could have turned out very different for all nations around this region.

The 7.4 magnitude quake was located 150 km (95 miles) E of Chichi-shima, Bonin Islands, Japan and 335 km (210 miles) NE of Iwo Jima, Volcano Islands, Japan and 1050 km (650 miles) SSE of TOKYO, Japan. All of the BONIN ISLAND quakes are in close proximity to one another. The "Historic Seismicity" Map can be viewed at http://neic.usgs.gov/neis/eq_depot/2010/eq_101221_c0000rxc/neic_c0000rxc_h.html. Researching Wikipedia for the history of the Bonin Islands, I notice that the archipelago is located southeast and south of Tokyo, Japan and there are more than 30 "tropical and subtropical islands" in the chain. Some are 620 miles (540 nmi) south of Tokyo, Japan.

The Philippine Sea and the China Sea are to the west of the Bonin Islands and the Pacific Ocean lies to its east. You can see the map on the Wikipedia page which is found at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bonin_Islands. Only two of the islands are inhabited with a combined" population of 2440 (2000 on Chichijima, and 440 on Hahajima)."

"In Japanese, the archipelago is called Ogasawara Group (小笠原群島, Ogasawara Guntō?)." The text explains that Japan owns the islands. Tradition passed down through the centuries states that the islands were discovered in 1543 by Bernardo de la Torre, Spanish explorer. Isaac Titsingh first analyzed the lay of the land and published his descriptions in 1796 when he delivered it to Europe. The first colony was established by American Nathaniel Savory when he landed on Chichijima in 1830. The text describes the work of Great Britain and Ireland on these islands and it was interesting to note that "In 1853, Commodore Perry visited the islands and bought property at Port Lloyd from Savory for $50. [4]"

Japan annexed the islands in 1875 and during World War II, "most of the inhabitants were forcibly evacuated to the mainland." A Japanese officer was later executed for his cannibalistic acts on prisoners of war when the military base was on Chichijima and it is interesting to note that "Future President George H. W. Bush's plane crashed in the ocean near Chichijima, but he was rescued by an American submarine.[20] The Battle of Iwo Jima in 1945 was one of the fiercest battles of World War II, was fought on an uninhabited island in this region of the Pacific."

The U.S. Navy stabilized and contributed to the development of the islands for twenty-three years until turning it back to Japanese control. Japanese citizens populate the island now. A 25m-diameter radio telescope is located in Chichijima, which is one of the stations of the VLBI Exploration of Radio Astrometry (VERA) project, and is operated by the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan. Today, the islands are being considered for the "World Heritage Site" because they meet "three criteria of geology, ecosystems, and biodiversity.[26]" Wikipedia adds many other facts about these islands, including a canceled project of a superliner under its "Transportation" section. Formation, Ecology and Education round out the subject of the Bonin Islands.