New Year's Earthquake Shakes Japan's Northeast Coast
by C. L. Cook
A Magnitude 7 earthquake struck Japan January 1st, just hours after New Year's celebrations concluded.
The temblor epicenter was estimated as 300 kilometers below the sea bed near the Izu Islands, about 500 kilometers south-southwest of Tokyo. The quake measured as Magnitude 4 in the capital and at Fukushima prefecture, home of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant stricken last March by a tsunami.
Rated the world's most serious nuclear disaster, where more than 20,000 people perished, Daiichi is still at meltdown status.
No injuries or damage are yet reported from Sunday's earthquake.
