The Japan Earthquake of Thursday was 7.3 on the Richter Scale. Any doubt that this natural diaster was the largest event of its kind on Earth at the time, should be erased by one look at the map courtesy of the US Geological Survey. (It’s part of the USGS’ new earthquake web pages.) The giant red dots cover Japan, and not just because there was the one 7.3 quake, but because there was a 5.7 later, and several smaller ones in between. This is the USGS report:
Location: 176 miles (284 km) E of Sendai, Honshu, Japan; 184 miles (296 km) ENE of Iwaki, Honshu, Japan; 198 miles (319 km) E of An earthquake with magnitude 7.3 occurred near Sendai, Honshu, Japan at 08:18:24.32 UTC on Dec 7, 2012. (This event has been reviewed by a seismologist.)
In fact, Japan was literally attacked by earthquakes: eight in the last day, alone.
Tsunami Warnings?
There was not just a tsunami warning, but a small tsunami already spotted in Japan after the 7.3 quake:
A one-metre wave hit Ishinomaki in Miyagi Prefecture and many people heeded calls to move to higher ground before all alerts were later lifted
Here’s more video from YouTube:
Stay tuned.
Bill Carroll