Earthquake Update: Earthquake has been upgraded to 7.3, 950,000 without power

An update to the estimated magnitude 7.3 earthquake off the coast of Tohoku, Japan at 11:08 pm. on Feb. 13th.

The earthquake which has registered in the upper 6 of the Japanese seismic intensity scale (maximum is 7) in Fukushima and Miyagi prefectures.

While there is no risk of a tsunami, the earthquake was upgraded from 7.1 to 7.3.

There were reports of 20 people injured in both prefectures.  About 950,000 homes were without electricity.

No abnormalities have been found at the Fukushima Daiichi and Daini nuclear power plants but there have been images of broken power lines, damage to numerous buildings.

UPDATE: Satake Kenji of the University of Tokyo’s Earthquake Research Institute said the Saturday 7.3 magnitude earthquake is an aftershock of the devastating 2011 earthquake which was a magnitude 9.0.  The reason why this earthquake did not produce a tsunami because it was 55km below the sea’s surface.

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