Japan Tsunami Crisis: Aftershock/Tsunami Alert

After everything the Japanese people have gone through recently, the last thing they needed was this. But a severe aftershock some 40km off the north-east coastline of Japan has lead to a Tsunami warning – with significant waves now apparently already hit parts of the coast –  with the alert for the same region that was affected by the first tsunami in March.

• Aftershock is said to have hit 25 miles down, which is good – the deeper the less damage (in theory).
• Fukushima nuclear plant personnel have been told to evacuate – though no abnormal data atm.
• Estimated wave height upgraded from 1m to 6ft in last few minutes.
• Tokyo buildings said to have shook for a minute… some distance from the quake.
• Miyagi prefecture – nearest the quake – are reporting loss of 2/3rds of its electrical systems, gas and water pipes have ruptured and fires have been reported.
• Aftershock magnitude downgraded to 7.1 from 7.4 and they believe it to be slightly deeper than previously thought.
• The more widespread tsunami warning has now been lifted.

We’ll be updating this post as we get details from the various news service – hopefully there will be no major wave.