A great earthquake (mag 8.9) hit Japan on Friday 11th March 2011, at 2:46 pm local time. The epicentre was located offshore 130 km E of Sendai, in Honshu. The earthquake had a shallow focus at 24 km. A 10 metre high tsunami has hit the eastern coast of Honshu. Major tsunami damage was reported at Sendai. Narita airport in tokyo was closed. A tsunami warning was placed over the Pacific including Australia, New Zealand, Pacific Islands, Hawaii, Central America, and South America. Earthquakes of this magnitude can disrupt nearby volcanoes. Large aftershocks with magnitudes up to 7 are occurring. Many fatalities have been reported. This is the largest historical earthquake to hit Japan. The earthquake was preceded by four earthquakes in the two days prior to the Great Earthquake.
The earthquake sequence was as follows:
Magnitude 7.0 Wednesday, March 09, 2011 at 11:45:20 AM.
Magnitude 6.1 Thursday, March 10, 2011 at 03:16:14 AM.
Magnitude 6.0 Thursday, March 10, 2011 at 04:44:35 AM
Magnitude 6.0 Thursday, March 10, 2011 at 06:22:18 AM
Magnitude 8.9 Friday, March 11, 2011 at 02:46:23 PM
Volcanoes of Japan...
About John Seach
- John Seach
- John Seach is a scientist and the world's leading volcano adventurer. Over the past 24 years John has traveled to the world's most exciting volcanoes, and witnessed eruptions during trips to more than 200 volcanoes. John's work has been featured on award winning television programmes. John is the founder of "Volcano Live", the world's first volcano news and volcano travel website.