Earthquake in NE Coast of Japan, 11th March 2011

This morning March 11th, at 05:46 (GMT) a magnitude 9.0 earthquake struck off the North East Coast of Japan. It has caused fatalities and there is a widespread flooding and fires in the Tokyo region. Because the focus of the earthquake was shallow, 25 km, it generated a tsunami, with waves of 4-10 m in height, and a Pacific wide tsunami alert has been put in place.

The shock waves generated by this super earthquake were recorded by the Irish National Seismic Network, at our stations in Donegal, Galway, Kerry and Dublin, 12 minutes later. It has also been recorded by over 50 schools in the Seismology in Schools Project, which is part of DIAS outreach programme.

More information available here:

• DIAS Geophysics Press Release
• Japanese earthquake information webpage
• Irish National Seismic Network earthquake recording

Tom Blake can be heard on the following links with regard to this devasting earthquake and subsequent tsunami.

• Drivetime, RTE Radio 1, 11th March 2011
• Ireland AM, TV3 interview, 14th March 2011