Japan´s Earthquake -tsunami and nuclear explosion

Last March 11 of 2011, Japan was rocked by the most powerful earthquake since records, which magnitude was of 9.0 . The quake was the fifth-largest in the world since 1900 and nearly 8,000 times stronger than the one which devastated Christchurch, New Zealand, last month, scientists said. it struck about 382 kilometres north-east of Tokyo at a depth of 24 kilometres, the US Geological Survey said.

The tremor, which hit at 9:57 a.m. local time, caused more concern than problems. No major injuries or damages have been reported. The residents of coastal areas were evacuated for about two hours after the earthquake, but the tsunami warning had since been lifted.

Japan has actually moved closer to the United States after de earthwaque, and also the planet´s axis shifted. The areas closest to the epicenter of the quake jumped a full 13 feet closer to the United States

Japan has been rocked by hundreds of aftershocks since the deadly Tohoku earthquake ( the biggest in Japan's recorded history). The largest aftershock was a magnitude 7.9 quake, that, struck less than an hour after the main shock. A magnitude 7.7 also struck that day, the number of aftershocks seems incredible, but geologists are not surprised, especially for such large main shock

That day aftershock was caused by thrust faulting near the Japan Trench, the boundary between the Pacific and North America tectonic plates. Thrust faulting happens when one tectonic plate dives under another. In this case, the Pacific plate is diving under the North America plate. Officials say 350 people are dead and about 500 still missing.

This huge earthquake cause, some hours later, a tsunami. a 10 m wave struck Sendai, leaving barren and sweeping cars across the airport's runway. Cars, ships and buildings were swept away by a wall of water after the 8.9 magnitude.

A tsunami warning extended across the Pacific to North and South America, where many other coastal regions were evacuated, but the alert was later lifted in most parts, including the Philippines, Australia and China. But in the USA the alert was not lifted, thousands of people were ordered to evacuate coastal areas in the states of California, Oregon and Washington were the biggest waves didn´t were more than 2m tall .

After this tsunami finished a State of Emergency was declared at a nuclear power plant, where pressure had exceeded normal levels. the trouble began at the plant's Unit 1 after Friday's massive 8.9-magnitude earthquake and the tsunami it spawned knocked out power there.

Japanese nuclear officials said pressure inside a boiling water reactor at the plant was running much higher than normal after the cooling system failed. Thousands of people living near the Fukushima nuclear power plant had been ordered to evacuate because there was a chanse of a nuclear explotion and it was very dangerous to be near the nuclear radiations and the radioactive cloud

This is the kind of earthquake that hits once every 100 years," said restaurant worker Akira Tanaka.