Tsunami warning is in place for Japan. http://www.jma.go.jp/en/tsunami/ We will come to know the true magnitude level of the Earthquake after sometime. Now they say it is 6.5.
Shallow Earthquakes cause a lot more damage. This one could cause more damage than the 9.0 The 9.0 Earthquake was 20 miles deep. The USGS said this Earthquake quake was 3.7 miles (5.9 kilometers) deep.
731 Earthquakes since March 11, 2011 Japan has the best Earthquake resistance technology. Maybe that is the reason Japan is getting hit by wave of earthquakes. Mother Nature is saying "I am bigger than you. You are not bigger than me. I am superior. You are inferior". Angry Mother Nature is trying to prove something.
If there was no nuclear reactor, no buildings and no humans living in that part of the world. Would it be a natural 'disaster'? This isn't 'natural disaster' but a man-made disaster. It is not the earthqauke or tsunami it was the nuclear reactor leaking. and btw, those nuclear reactors was suppose to be earthquake proof. Everybody knows Japan has the most earthquakes. The entire island of Japan created from platonic movements in the earth's crust. A for the tsunami, didnt' the tsunami of 2004 was a 'warning'? there was no quick evacuation of people plan. Ignore the warnings. No, the planet evolving for millions of years.
Japan knows that Japan is built/standing on high-risk Earthquake region but Japan tried to defeat Earthquakes by building Earthquake resistent structures and buildings. When Japan knows that there land is high-risk for earthquakes they should get the hell out of there. Never try to defeat Mother Nature and Bearice.
Here is a video that shows you the size (height) of the wave that came in. Did this inundate the reactor complex to the same extent? Yikes. No wonder we're talking about possible containment damage. That was an immense mass of water. Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xOfy1CoxrMo
Here is a comment by SimpleGimpy in response to that video: "There are no gods, there is no destiny, there is only a random universe with the tiny, precious, wellspring of life within it. Be kind, be thankful, and live your life well." I think that is a very insightful comment.
That's only true if its close to something. And even then it would be a generalization. The Chch quake at 6.5 did a lot more damage than the prior one at 7 primarily because it was very close to the city. But it also had a different movement pattern ... almost vertical ... which probably exacerbated it considerably. The Japanese 9.0 wasn't the major problem, at least on Honshu; the real issue being the undersea land it lifted and the resulting pulses of water.