Another Big One
We seem to be getting lots of big quakes in northern Japan. About a half hour ago, Sachi and I felt a rather strong one, which made the furniture shift a little for a few seconds, and doors creaked for a few minutes. Seemed pretty strong even here, and yet it was 300 miles (480 km) distant, up in Iwate, near Morioka (probably hitting less than 30 miles away, though the greatest effect was in various places, maybe because the quake had a depth of about 110 km). The magnitude, originally reported at about 7.2, is now rated as a 6.8 on the Richter scale.
This differs from recent big quakes in that it hit on land, and not too far from populated areas. Since it hit about a half hour after midnight, it might be a bit before we hear about the real damage done.