A strong and shallow earthquake magnitude 6.0 struck near the east coast of
Honshu on Friday, April 13, 2012 at 10:10:02 UTC according to U.S. Geological Survey.
The quake was located at 36.998°N, 141.325°E with a depth of 13.6 km (8.5 miles), just 42 km (26 miles) off the disaster-ravaged Fukushima nuclear power plant. The epicentre was at a distance of 39 km (24 miles) east of Iwaki, Honshu, Japan; 94 km (58 miles) southeast of Koriyama, Honshu, Japan; 102 km (63 miles) northeast of Mito, Honshu, Japan; and 202 km (125 miles) northeast of Tokyo, Japan.
There are reports of strong shaking in Iwaki, Namie and Kitaibaraki. The residents of Takahagi, Sukagawa, Funaishikawa, Mito and Fukushima will have felt moderate shaking. Japan and the surrounding islands straddle four major tectonic plates:
Pacific plate; North America plate; Eurasia plate; and Philippine Sea
plate. Since 1900, three great earthquakes occurred off Japan and three north
of Hokkaido. They are the M8.4 1933 Sanriku-oki earthquake, the M8.3
2003 Tokachi-oki earthquake, the M9.0 2011 Tohoku earthquake, the M8.4
1958 Etorofu earthquake, the M8.5 1963 Kuril earthquake, and the M8.3
1994 Shikotan earthquake.