Japan Quake Map

About this site

On the 11th of March 2011, the world's media reported a massive earthquake off the East coast of Japan. It turned out to hit magnitude 9 on the Richter scale, and caused a devastating tsunami; the region's nuclear power facilities have been experiencing major difficulties since the earthquake and tsunami triggered a series of events leading to massive overheating.

The Japan Quake Map on this website pesents a time-lapse visualisation of the Sendai earthquake and its aftershocks, primarily to help those outside the affected area understand what the people of Japan are experiencing. It plots earthquake data from USGS on a map using the Google Maps API, with the size of the circle denoting the magnitude (the higher the magnitude, the larger the circle) and the colour showing the focal depth (see the legend below the map).


How to use the Map

The map will start playing through the earthquakes, starting on March 11 2011, once it finishes loading. The controls to the right allow you to play/pause the animation, jump to the start or end of the sequence, or adjust the playback speed. You can also use the links above the map or the "Show Day" dropdown box and links to the right to view quakes from a specific time period.