Japan Earthquake July 10 2011

Japan Earthquake July 10 2011: Another massive earthquake of a 7.3 magnitude jolted Japan's northeastern coast on Sunday that triggered a brief tsunami warning for the area, which is still recovering from the March 11 earthquake and resulting tsunami that destroyed houses, power and swept away whole towns.

According to public broadcaster NHK, the tsunami alert for the northeast coast has been lifted, about two hours after the quake. Earlier, the workers at the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant were warned to evacuate following an alert for a tsunami of 50 centimeters issued by the country's metreological agency. However, there were no immediate reports of damage from the earthquake.
The earthquake struck at 9:57 local time (0057 GMT). The epicenter of the quake was in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Japan's main island, Honshu, at a depth of about 20 miles (30 kilometers).

"It's critical to understand how subduction zone earthquakes and tsunamis originate - especially in light of recent events in Japan," said Rodey Batiza of the National Science Foundation's Division of Ocean Sciences. "The results of this expedition will also help us learn more about our own such zone off the Pacific Northwest." Over 80 percent of global earthquakes above magnitude 8.0 occur along subduction zones.

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