7.1 aftershock rattles Japan

A powerful earthquake shook northern Japan on Monday, triggering a fresh tsunami alert on the anniversary of one month's massive earthquake and wave that devastated the north-east coast and triggered a nuclear crisis still unfolding. The 7.1 magnitude aftershock briefly forced the Tokyo main international airport to close two of its tracks. The epicenter was just inside and about 100 miles (160 kilometers) north of Tokyo. The operator of the complex paralyzed Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear said the last earthquake had no impact on the plant.


A warning was issued for a period of three feet (one meter) tsunami, the same as after an aftershock struck the north coast last week. This earthquake has generated no tsunami.

People with a large electronics store in the town northeast of Sendai screamed and ran outside, if the agitation, it was difficult to move. Mothers grabbed their children, and the windows shook. After a minute or two, people returned to the store.

There were no new reports of damage. Aftershocks rocked the region on several occasions disaster, tired, but there is little in the north to the ruins. reply last Thursday of magnitude 7.1, which was the strongest quake ever since the initial quake, not sink hundreds of thousands more households into darkness, however. Most of this electricity has been restored.

The earthquake of magnitude 9.0 and the tsunami it generated on March 11 believed to have killed over 25,000 people and caused as much as 310 billion U.S. dollars in damage. NPP has been disabled since they spew radiation, and even a month, officials say they do not know how long it will take to cool the reactors it.