Japan Rocked by Nearly 10,000 Tremors in Quake Aftermath - East Idaho News
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Japan Rocked by Nearly 10,000 Tremors in Quake Aftermath

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Getty W 031411 Japan1?  SQUARESPACE CACHEVERSION=1331293894462Sankei via Getty Images(TOKYO) — As Japan readies to remember the 9.0-magnitude earthquake and resulting tsunami that struck the country exactly a year ago from Sunday, more details are surfacing as to just how active the Earth has been since then.

The Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) says about 10,000 tremors have rocked Japan since the disasters hit on March 11, 2011.  That’s more than eight times the number recorded the year before.

The majority of the tremors — 70 percent — were aftershocks from the large quake, according to the agency, but there’s also been a notable amount of shaking inland as well.

What’s more, the JMA says the tectonic plates underneath Japan continue to shift the country eastward, so more strong quakes are likely.

Last March’s earthquake crippled the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, triggering a nuclear crisis in the country.  Nearly 20,000 people were killed and hundreds of thousands of others were displaced from their homes.

Copyright 2012 ABC News Radio

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