A survivor woman wipes her tear after she takes a moment of silence, exactly a month after a massive earthquake struck the area in Kamaishi, Iwate prefecture, Monday, April 11, 2011. (AP / Lee Jin-man)
Japan's Ground Self-Defense Force members take a moment of silence exactly a month after a massive earthquake struck the area in Otsuchi, Iwate Prefecture, Monday, April 11, 2011. (AP / Yomiuri Shimbun, Yasuhiro Takami)
Children play games after taking a moment of silence at 2:46 p.m., exactly a month after a massive earthquake struck the area in Kamaishi, Iwate prefecture, Japan, Monday, April 11, 2011. (AP / Lee Jin-man)
Tokyo Electric Power Co. President Masataka Shimizu, third right, and other TEPCO officials observe a minute of silence at the Fukushima Prefectural Office in Fukushima, Monday, April 11, 2011. (AP / Hiro Komae)
Updated: Mon Apr. 11 2011 19:38:45
CTV.ca News Staff
Yet another strong earthquake struck Japan Tuesday morning local time, the country's Meteorological Agency announced, a day after a powerful aftershock claimed a young girl's life.
The agency gave the quake a preliminary magnitude of 6.3, saying its epicentre was just off the coast of Chiba, east of Tokyo.
The quake did not trigger a tsunami warning, and there were no immediate reports of injuries or damage.
The quake was part of a series of aftershocks that have continued to rock Japan one month after a 9.0-magnitude earthquake and tsunami devastated the northeastern part of the country. An estimated 25,000 people were killed and officials continue to struggle with radiation leaks and other problems at a nearby nuclear facility.
Tuesday's quake came a day after a powerful aftershock struck about 160 kilometres north of Tokyo, just hours after the island nation paused to mark the one-month anniversary of the devastating earthquake and ensuing tsunami that hit March 11.
Monday's aftershock, which was measured at a magnitude of 7.0 by Japanese officials and magnitude 6.6 by the U.S. Geological Survey, collapsed at least three houses in the city of Iwaki.
At least seven people were believed trapped, local police said, in addition to a teenage girl who was found dead in the rubble of her collapsed home.
A tsunami warning was issued immediately following Monday's aftershock, but was lifted approximately one hour later.
Monday's tragedy occurred as government officials, citing long-term health concerns, told more residents of the disaster-stricken region to leave.
In a press conference Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano said the residents of an additional five communities -- some of which are well beyond the existing 20-kilometre evacuation zone surrounding the crippled Dai-ichi nuclear power complex in Fukushinma prefecture -- should consider heading to another part of the country.
Although the Japanese government's top spokesperson insisted there was no imminent peril, he admitted emergency crews have been unable to bring the nuclear crisis at the plant under control.
"This is not an emergency measure that people have to evacuate immediately," Edano told reporters. "We have decided this measure based on long-term health risks."
A month after the disaster, authorities are still struggling to restore a sense of normalcy in a country where more than 150,000 people are living in shelters, while persistent dangers at the damaged nuclear facility prevent many from returning to their homes.
"My chest has been ripped open by the suffering and pain that this disaster has caused the people of our prefecture," said Yuhei Sato, the governor of Fukushima, which saw its coastal areas devastated by the tsunami and is home to the stricken Dai-ichi nuclear plant.
The tsunami disabled the cooling systems at the six-reactor Dai-ichi plant, which has suffered explosions, fires and radiation leaks in the ensuing month.
Nuclear safety official Hidehiko Nishiyama apologized Monday for the inconvenience caused by the radiation issues at Dai-ichi.
"It's still difficult to give a timeline regarding when we can resolve the problem," Nishiyama said Monday. "We are very sorry for the evacuees who are anxious to see the problem resolved."
Atsushi Yanai, a 55-year-old construction worker, has not been able to go home since the tsunami. His house was not harmed by the quake or the tsunami, but it is located within an evacuation zone surrounding the Dai-ichi plant.
"We have no future plans. We can't even start to think about it because we don't know how long this will last or how long we will have to stay in these shelters," Yanai said.
Many memorial services in hard-hit towns took place at 2:46 p.m. local time on Monday, a month after the massive quake struck on March 11.
Marina Seito, a 19-year-old college student, was inside a basement restaurant when the quake hit.
"Even after a month, I still cry when I watch the news," Saito said Monday, recalling the scene of the ceiling above her falling apart.
But hours after Japanese citizens gathered to remember their dead on Monday, the ground began shaking again when the aftershock hit.
With files from The Associated Press
Comments are now closed for this story
Jaid in Toronto
@Pugfire: Aftershocks is usually a combination of both, but the most relevant one would be the effect in which an aftershock is usually characterized by a "weaker" earthquake in comparison to the original. So the only way an aftershock would be truly treated as an earthquake is that the score on the Richter scale is higher than the original with the other two conditions satisfied.
Lanness
My heart goes out to all the people involved in the unfortunate events in Japan.
Pugfire
Sad to hear of yet more problems in Japan. I do however have a serious question. Anytime there is an earthquake, we get aftershocks. But, when do "aftershocks" stop being that and become earthquakes again? After all, they are basically the same thing! Is it a time measurement? Distance from original epicenter? Amplitude?If anyone can answer this I'd appreciate it.
Terri in Tokyo
FYI: the moment of silence was at 2:56pm and the aftershock was at 5:16pm - not exactly "moments after the moment of silence" as described in the video blurb.
Terri in Tokyo
This one was shallow, and under land so it felt bigger than last Thursday's. And it was followed by several smaller ones in quick succession. Quite unnerving, but luckily, no reports of serious injury as yet. They are getting to be fewer and farther between overall, but just when you start to relax - along comes another big one.
A new magnitude 6.6 aftershock yesterday triggered a mudslide which left six people dead. 
The crisis at a  on the northeast coast of Japan is now as severe as the  in 1986, officials have said. Radiation is continuing to leak from the plant, which was damaged during the devastating magnitude 9.0 earthquake and tsunami last month, which left thousands dead. Japanese authorities have warned the crisis is now a "major accident" with "wider consequences" than previously thought.

A spokesperson for , the Japanese government nuclear authority, said officials had upgraded the crisis to a level seven on the —the same applied to the Chernobyl disaster—because of a number of factors, including the detection of radiation in crops. "We have upgraded the severity level to seven as the impact of radiation leaks has been widespread from the air, vegetables, tap water and the ocean," he said.

 
, the operator of the plant, has warned radiation was continuing to leak from the site and the magnitude of the crisis could exceed that of Chernobyl. Despite this, Japanese nuclear safety officials have insisted the leakage of radiation was small compared to the devastated plant in the former . "In terms of volume of radioactive materials released, our estimate shows it is about ten percent of what was released by Chernobyl," one nuclear official said.

The news comes as a new blow after another powerful aftershock yesterday which left at least six people dead after they were killed in a  in the city of . The landslide, which destroyed numerous homes, was triggered by a  6.6 aftershock which came exactly a month after the 9.0 magnitude earthquake. Fire officials in the city said three people had already been rescued and taken to hospital, and emergency workers were working to free an unknown number of others.
The International Nuclear Events Scale; the accidents at the Fukushima I have been elevated to level seven, the highest level on the scale, putting it on par with the , originally the accidents were rated at level five, the same level of the . 
Workers at the damaged Fukushima nuclear plant returned after they were briefly evacuated following the earthquake, and officials issued tsunami warnings for the northeast coast which were later cancelled. Workers have been fighting a desperate battle to prevent the reactors from overheating and entering . Raging fires burned into the night after the earthquake, and TEPCO reported widespread power outages; hundreds of thousands of homes and businesses had power cut off.

Reports of the change in severity at the damaged nuclear plant followed the announcement that the  around the site was to be expanded. A spokesperson for the government confirmed the radius of the zone would be expanded to include another five communities over the next several weeks. He stressed there was "no need to evacuate immediately" but said concerns had been raised over health risks from the leaking radiation.

The new development at the plant and the aftershock are new blows to a country wounded after the massive earthquake in March, which caused a tsunami that washed away whole towns and villages along the country's northeast coast. Thousands of bodies have been recovered, and many more are still unaccounted for, many left under mounds of rubble or washed out to sea. More than 150,000 people remain displaced, living in emergency shelters.


Before the aftershock struck yesterday, survivors of the first earthquake marked the time it hit a month ago with a  across the country. Writing to seven international newspapers, , the ,  expressed his gratitude to people globally for their support. "Through our own efforts and with the help of the global community, Japan will recover and come back even stronger. We will then repay you for your generous aid," he wrote. "With this in our hearts, we now stand together dedicated to rebuilding the nation."



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de:Nachbeben in Japan – Behörden weiten Sicherheitszone aus
es:Aumentan el nivel de alerta radioactiva en la central nuclear Fukushima
fr:Les accidents de Fukushima évalués de niveau 7 par les autorités japonaises
pl:Fukushima: łączna ocena INES awarii podniesiona do 7. stopnia