updated 10:12 a.m.
Here are various links related to the earthquake
Amazing photos from the National Post
Video from inside a grocery story as the earthquake began
Video inside an office building in hard-hit Sendai City
Tsunami battering everything in its path
updated 8:53 a.m.
TOKYO (AP) - Japan coast guard searching for ship with 80 on board washed away by tsunami.
updated story 8:18 a.m.
By MALCOLM FOSTER
Associated Press
TOKYO (AP) - Japanese police say 200 to 300 bodies have been found in a northeastern coastal area where a massive earthquake spawned a tsunami.
The bodies were found in Sendai city, the closest major city to the epicenter. The magnitude 8.9 quake and 23-foot (7-meter) tsunami were followed by more than 50 aftershocks for hours, many of them of more than magnitude 6.0.
Dozens of cities and villages along a 1,300-mile (2,100-kilometer) stretch of coastline were shaken by violent tremors that reached as far away as Tokyo, hundreds of miles (kilometers) from the epicenter.
Earlier, police confirmed at least 60 people had been killed and 56 were missing. The death toll was likely to continue climbing given the scale of Friday's disaster.
posted 4:28 a.m. / last updated 6:40 a.m.
The seventh-strongest earthquake in recorded history struck Japan at 2:46 p.m. local time. Tsunami warnings stretch across the Pacific Basin, including the United States.
The Japanese government now reports 60 people are dead with 56 missing. This number will continue to rise. The quake's epicenter was about 231 miles away from Tokyo. More than 20 aftershocks hit Japan including several at least 6.3M, the size of the earthquake that struck New Zealand recently.
The quake unleashed a 23-foot (7-meter) tsunami that swept boats, cars, buildings and tons of debris miles inland. Fires are reported across the nation.
The Japanese government has declared a nuclear emergency as attempts to cool a reactor at a nuclear power plant in the northern part of the nation aren't going as planned.
Crowds gathered in the streets and tried to reach relatives on cell phones. About four million homes in Tokyo and surrounding areas are without power. The Japanese Prime Minister is calling on people across the nation to remain calm.
Hawaii is under a tsunami warning.
Hawaii State Civil Defense reports the first waves are expected to the state at 3:07 a.m. Hawaii time / 7:07 a.m. Central. A tsunami warning is in place for the entire West Coast of the United States. Arrival time for initial waves on the West Coast is about 9 a.m. Central / 7 a.m. Pacific. Citizens in low-lying areas of the West Coast are advised to seek higher ground. The National Weather Service reports tsunami waves are expected to peak two to three hours after initial arrival along the North American Coast.
Richter ScaleThis is the seventh-strongest earthquake on record in the world, 8.9 magnitude on the Richter Scale. This is an explanation of the scale from the USGS:
The Richter magnitude scale was developed in 1935 by Charles F. Richter of the California Institute of Technology as a mathematical device to compare the size of earthquakes. The magnitude of an earthquake is determined from the logarithm of the amplitude of waves recorded by seismographs. Adjustments are included for the variation in the distance between the various seismographs and the epicenter of the earthquakes. On the Richter Scale, magnitude is expressed in whole numbers and decimal fractions. For example, a magnitude 5.3 might be computed for a moderate earthquake, and a strong earthquake might be rated as magnitude 6.3. Because of the logarithmic basis of the scale, each whole number increase in magnitude represents a tenfold increase in measured amplitude; as an estimate of energy, each whole number step in the magnitude scale corresponds to the release of about 31 times more energy than
the amount associated with the preceding whole number value.
