Here are some links and information for the recent earthquake. Most information is in English and some Japanese websites with figures that can probably be understood.
1. Basic Information
- Name of earthquake as given by the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA): The 2011 off the Pacific Coast of Tohoku Earthquake
- Japanese Name: 2011年東北地方太平洋沖地震
- Time: March 11, 2011 14:46:18.1 JST (05:46 UT)
- JMA Hypocenter: 38.103 N 142.86 E Depth: 24 km
- Magnitude and Focal Mechanism:
* Mw8.9 USGS (March 11)
* Mw9.1 Global CMT (March 11)
* Mw9.0 JMA (March 13)
The sequence started with a M7.2 earthquake off the east coast of Miyagi Prefecture on March 9 at 0245 (UTC). The mainshock followed two days later with the hypocenter about 40 km southeast of the previous event. There have been many aftershocks with 3 events greater than 7. The earthquake generated a large tsunami along the Pacific coast of Japan. The largest instrumental tsunami height was 7.2 meters. Probably there were larger tsunamis. There was severe shaking for several hundred miles along the east coast of Honshu, with JMA 7 (MMXI-XII) in Miyagi and JMA 5-6 (MMVIII-X) in Tokyo.
Damage has been very severe from the tsunami. There are reported 1700 deaths and still over 10,000 people missing. Most of the casualties appear to be from the tsunami. 430,000 people are in evacuation centers. The damage in Tokyo was limited, but there are major disruptions in the transportation and infrastructure. Scheduled black-outs have started because of the lack of power. There is much concern because of two explosions that have occurred at nuclear plants in Fukushima on March 12 and 14.
2. Intensity Distribution
- JMA
- Population exposure
Conversion of JMA Intensity to MM Intensity
3. Tsunami
- Tsunami Observations from JMA
- Tsunami Photos (K. Satake, Univ. Tokyo)
- Tsunami Simulation (K. Satake, Univ. Tokyo)
- Pacific Tsunami Warning Center
4. Crustal Deformation
- Geospatial Information Authority of Japan (GSI)
- GPS data (original file Horizontal & Vertical, Headquarters for Earthquake Research Promotion)
5. Aftershocks
- Daily plots of aftershocks
6. Earthquake Early Warning System in Japan
- EEW Report (M. Yamada, Kyoto Univ.)
7. Summary of Current Aspects
- Important Aspects of the 2011 Tohoku, Japan Earthquake (J. Mori, Kyoto Univ.)
8. Seismological Results
- Slip Models
* USGS
* Tsukuba Univ.
* Nagoya Univ.
* GSI (from GPS)
- Back Projections
* Harvard
* Kyoto University
9. Compilations of Information
- USGS
- Univ. of Tokyo
- EERI
- UNAVCO