Earthquake Jars Japan

A strong earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 6.8 has hit off the shores of Japan’s southern Okinawa Island.

Officials said the quake Tuesday about 135 miles away from the island was not expected to cause a tsunami. There were no immediate reports of damage, injuries or tsunami warnings.

Northeastern Japan was devastated by a massive earthquake and tsunami on March 11 that left nearly 20,000 people dead or missing. Japan, which lies along the Pacific “Ring of Fire,” is one of the world’s most seismically active countries.

Japan, located at the junction of four tectonic plates, experiences 20 percent of the strongest quakes recorded on Earth each year.

Another 7.1 Magnitude Earthquake Hits Japan

A 7.4 magnitude earthquake has hit the coast of Japan, and authorities had issued a tsunami warning for the country's northeastern coast, which was already ravaged by last month's devastating quake and tsunami.   They appear to backed off onthe tsunami warning.

The warning was for a tsunami of as much as four feet, NBC News reported.

The quake hit 73 miles from Fukushima, where workers are still trying to contain the damage and radiation at the nuclear plant, and 207 miles from Tokyo, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

Update on Thursday, April 7, 2011 at 1:23PM by Rick C.Limpert

* Update:  This quake is the strongest of the hundreds of aftershocks that have shaken Japan since the magnitude 9.0 quake on March 11.

Tokyo Electric Power Company (Tepco) says that the quake hasn’t caused any further damage to the Daiichi nuclear power plant, but all workers have been temporarily evacuated from the facilities. There were no injuries reported.

Breaking - 6.5 Magnitude Earthquake in NE Japan, Tsunami Possible

A 6.5 magnitude earthquake has hit Japan and Tsunami alerts in various places have been issued.

Early reports say there appears to be little or no damage on the ground, the main concern right now is a tsunami that may hit the Japan coast.

This tsunami height may only be about 1.6 feet, but the force it may come into land on may be great.

The red-shaded area is the Miyagi perfecture.  It is the area currently anticipating impact of a tsunami.

Meltdown is Near as Third Explosion Rocks Sendai Plant

Radiation is spewing from damaged reactors at a crippled nuclear power plant in tsunami-ravaged northeastern Japan in a dramatic escalation of the four-day-old catastrophe.

Japan's prime minister Naoto Kan has warned residents to stay inside or risk getting radiation sickness following a fire at the at the number-four reactor at the quake-hit Fukushima No.1 atomic power plant.

A government spokesman said radiation emanating from the plant is high enough in nearby areas to damage health.

Radiation levels have risen considerably, Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan said.

In a televisised press conference this afternoon, Kan told people within 30 kilometres of the troubled nuclear power plant to stay indoors.  Another evacuation may have to take place.

Japanese officials who have said for sometime that the problem was contained are now changing their tone a little. 

Workers were earlier evacuated from the number-two reactor plant.

'‘We have moved our staff to a safer area,’’ the TEPCO spokesman said this morning.

An official from Japan’s Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency said ‘‘that workers near the reactor No.2, excluding those who are pumping water to cool the reactor, have been evacuated.’’

AT&T Offers Relief For Those Calling Japan

AT&T today announced it has implemented international calling and texting support efforts for U.S. residential wireless and wireline consumers trying to connect with loved ones in Japan, following last week's tragic earthquake and tsunami.

Effective beginning last week, March 11, and continuing through March 31, AT&T wireless postpaid customers will not be charged for:
*    International long distance usage from the United States and Puerto Rico to Japan
*    Text messages to Japan, originated from a U.S. wireless number

In addition, and also effective March 11 through March 31, residential wireline customers can seek credits for up to 60 minutes of direct dial calling to Japan:
*    Upon receiving their wireline bill, customers may call AT&T to receive adjusted calling for up to 60 minutes. In other words, no charges for up to 60 minutes of call time from the United States to Japan between March 11 and March 31.

For any of the above activity, customers will either see no charges reflected on their monthly statement, or they will see a full credit applied to their statement for activity between March 11 and March 31.

"We want to help our customers connect with loved ones in Japan in anyway we can," said Mark Collins, senior vice president, Voice and Data Products, AT&T Mobility and Consumer Markets. "Connecting with family and friends is most important at times like this- we want to make it as easy and worry free as possible for our customers."

Still available, AT&T wireless customers can text "redcross" to 90999 to give a $10 donation to help the Red Cross with disaster support efforts in the area.  No text message fees apply.
And, TV Japan - the 24 hour Japanese news channel - is available for free through March 17 to all U-verse(r) TV subscribers, allowing viewers to follow the news and recovery efforts. TV Japan can be found on channel 3680.