Hi Glen. The population of Sendai is about 1.1 million. There was a 10cm (4 inches) tsunami generated that struck the area about 12 minutes after the quake occurred. Most of the damage was confined to the nerves and stuff being knocked from shelves. I will have to watch the evening news there to get a better idea as to damage and what have you.

We were watching a show on NHK TV when the quake struck. We saw it flash across the top of the screen. This lasted for about 30 seconds then they switched to the studio in Sendai where the quake was still occurring. If the motion of the cameras was any indication of how strong the quake was it was a rocker.

All of the trains came to a stop automatically and with no damage to the trains themselves. The trains won’t move until all of the tracks have been inspected.

There were two M=7.0 quakes within a 50 mile radius of the most recent quake. Both quakes occurred in 2003. The “moment tensor solution” shows the quake to be a strike-slip with thrust faulting component. This is most likely why the tsunami wasn’t very large. Take Care…Don in creepy town