Japan forecasters fear another huge quake
Japanese government scientists are concerned that another massive earthquake could be on the way.
Aftershocks are continuing to shake Japan’s northeast coast on an almost daily basis; on Thursday morning a tremor measuring 6.1 was registered.
“On March 11 (the day of the original earthquake and tsunami) there was an extremely large magnitude 7.7 aftershock off the coast of Ibaraki prefecture and so that’s the the biggest aftershock at the present time,” said Keiji Doi, Japan Meteorological Agency’s head of earthquake prediction.
“But we’re not at a stage where we can assert that it’s the biggest aftershock in the series of aftershock activity. I think, looking ahead, there is a possibility of an aftershock of around magnitude 8 and we have to prepare for it,” he added.
Japan’s nuclear watchdog says an alternative plan may be needed to bring one of the stricken reactors at Fukushima under control.
Progress has been slow in emptying highly radioactive water which is hampering work to restore the cooling system.
As life along the devastated coastline slowly picks up again, the fish market at Shiogama has reopened for the first time since the disaster.
The seaside town took the full impact of the tsunami and the market was damaged.
The sight of hundreds of tuna fish being unloaded was good news for a stricken fishing industry – and provided a much needed morale boost for the community.