Scenes from Japan’s two powerful earthquakes
Long cracks in the ground can also be seen, revealing the fault lines that triggered the two massive earthquakes, one on Thursday (April 14) and one on Saturday (April 16). Japanese media quoted experts as saying the fault lines moved as much as three metres (3.2 yards) apart in places.
There have been more than 230 aftershocks of at least level 1 on the Japanese scale since Thursday’s quake, said Japan’s meteorological agency.
43 people have been confirmed dead.
Quakes are common in Japan, part of the seismically active “Ring of Fire” which sweeps from the South Pacific islands, up through Indonesia and Japan, across to Alaska and down the west coast of the United States and Central and South America.