Asia-Pacific News
Japan seabed rises 5 metres near epicentre of March quake
Apr 1, 2011, 11:15 GMT
Tokyo - The magnitude-9.0 earthquake that rocked north-eastern Japan on March 11 pushed the seabed up by as much as 5 metres near its epicentre, a news report said Friday.
The discovery was made by a group of Japanese researchers led by Ryota Hino, a professor at Tohoku University Research Centre for the Prediction of Earthquakes and Volcanic Eruptions, public broadcaster NHK reported.
The team collected the data from a water-pressure gauge installed on the seabed 5,800 metres down, around 200 kilometres off Miyagi Prefecture, near the quake's epicentre.
The focus zone, or line of the tectonic rupture, ran about 450 kilometres north to south, NHK said.
The researchers said the devastating tsunami was triggered by the sudden rise in the seabed over wide areas, NHK reported.
The official death toll stood at 11,620 Friday with 16,464 people listed as missing, Japan's National Police Agency said. Some 164,000 people were housed at 2,200 temporarily shelters, the agency said.
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