# 5409
The massive 9.0 earthquake that struck off the eastern coast of Honshu Island last Friday now has an official name bestowed upon it by the USGS; The Tohoku Earthquake.
Tohoku is an abbreviated version of Tohoku-Chiho Taiheiyo-Oki – a Japanese descriptive phrase that translates roughly as: "Pacific offshore Tohoku region”.
The Los Angeles Times has more on this:
Of course, the March 11th Tohoku quake wasn’t a single event. It was heralded by a strong 7.2 magnitude quake on the 9th, and has been followed by scores of strong aftershocks that continue to rattle the region.
The United Nations World Food Programme has released a new map showing the location and relative sizes of significant quakes that have occurred in this region between March 9th and March 15th.
The following may be accessed via Reliefweb.
Japan: Earthquakes Swarm (15 Mar 2011)
- Date: 15 Mar 2011
- Type: Natural Disaster
- Keyword(s): Earthquake; Natural Disaster; Tsunami; Technological Disaster
- Format:
Scientists continue to warn that one or more 7.0+ aftershocks may still occur in the days and weeks to come.
Not only are these quakes capable of causing additional damage, and can endanger rescuers and others still in the region, they inflict a heavy psychological toll as well.
When a quake begins, those in the affected area have no way of knowing how big it is going to end up being. And a dozen or more strong aftershocks have affected the region every day since Friday.
For millions of people already heavily traumatized by the events of the past week, these aftershocks are a constant reminder of how vulnerable to additional earthquake damage they remain.
