Top Artists Rally for Japan Earthquake Victims

With Japan still reeling from the earthquake and tsunami that rocked the nation on March 11, top musicians like Lady Gaga, U2, and Nicki Minaj — along with indie icons like Sonic Youth and Yo La Tengo — are rallying to show their support.

Here's a roundup of available auctions and events, from intimate concerts to rare merchandise like posters and limited-edition vinyl. You can also give directly to the Red Cross, which is raising money for disaster relief. Head here for more information on how to donate.

    Lady Gaga has designed prayer bracelets emblazoned with the words "We Pray for Japan," transcribed in both English and Japanese. The item costs $5, but fans can add an additional donation to a purchase. [Lady Gaga's Official Store]

    U2, Bon Jovi, Rihanna, Nicki Minaj, and Justin Bieber will contribute music to a digital-only benefit album by label Universal, which will raise money for the Japanese Red Cross. The set is expected to be rush-released for this week; a track list has yet to be announced. [Yahoo!]

    Warp Records is selling special-edition T-shirts to raise money for the Red Cross Japan Tsunami Aid Fund. The label is covering manufacturing costs and giving 100-percent of proceeds to charity. [Warp Records]

    Linkin Park's Mike Shinoda has designed two T-shirts that are available through the group's official site, with funds benefitting Music for Relief. The band is also supporting the charity by contributing an unreleased song to the Download to Donate album, which features material from Angels & Airwaves, Counting Crows, Enrique Iglesias, Plain White T's, Slash, and more for a $10 donation.

    Sonic Youth are performing as part of the sold-out Concert to Benefit Japan Earthquake Relief on March 27 at Columbia University in New York. Mike Patton, Yoko Ono, Sean Lennon, John Zorn, Cibo Matto and others are also slated to perform.

    Sonic Youth guitarist Thurston Moore will also take part in another benefit show at the Abrons Arts Center" in New York on April 8, alongside Norah Jones, Buke, Gass, and others. In addition to playing shows, the band is auctioning off a pair of rare posters from the early '90s, along with a pair of custom Vans SY shoes. Head here to bid on the items.

    Yo La Tengo have organized a benefit concert on March 23 at Maxwell's in Hoboken, NJ, with proceeds from ticket sales going to Peace Winds Fund.

    The Mountain Goats are auctioning off an unreleased song on cassette, with the money going to benefit Doctors Without Borders USA. [eBay]

    Beady Eye, Paul Weller, Richard Ashcroft, Primal Scream, Blur's Graham Coxon, and others will play a London benefit at Brixton O2 Academy on April 3. Proceeds will go to the British Red Cross Japan Tsunami Appeal. Tickets go on sale Friday. [NME]

    Fleet Foxes are auctioning off a vinyl test printing of their single "Helplessness Blues" on eBay. The proceeds for this rare item benefit Global Giving Japan Earthquake and Tsunami Relief Fund.

    L.A. garage rockers Black Rebel Motorcycle Club are auctioning off an autographed cymbal used on their last tour, along with a collection of rare out-of-print vinyl. The bidding is still open at Charity Buzz.

    Norway's Serena Maneesh have released a remix of Lindstrøm & Christabelle's "High & Low" on iTunes, with all proceeds going towards the Japanese Red Cross.

    The Wu-Tang Clan's RZA has released a tribute to earthquake victims titled "Gab-Gotcha 'Japan,'" which is available for free over at Soundcloud.

    If comedians Neil Hamburger and Tim Heidecker can encourage fans to raise $10,000 for the Red Cross, the duo will release a new 10 minute comedy bit for free. [Tiny Mix Tapes]

Japan earthquake: Mothers at Sendai school receive the dead bodies of their children

Bracing herself for the worst Miyuki Fukuda steps gingerly out into the muddy wasteland that used to be her children's school.

It is two weeks since the tsunami struck but only now is Ookawa Elementary School giving up most of its dead.

Of its 108 pupils, 77 were buried, along with 10 teachers, when water surged over the top of their two-storey building and dumped tonnes of earth on the playground.

That was where the entire group was standing, having followed their well practised response to an earthquake, filing outside and waiting for the danger to pass.

There was a hill 50 yards away, where they would have been safe from a tsunami, but the teachers didn't think a wave could reach two miles inland.

So instead, for 45 minutes, they stood patiently as a 30ft wall of water was rushing up the nearby Kitakamigawa river, and across the rice paddies towards them.

The school's clocks now stand still, frozen at the moment the tsunami hit.

For many days after the disaster the school, perched on the river's scenic south bank under a pine forested hillside near the city of Ishinomaki, was hard to reach. A 50-metre section of the bridge across the river snapped and was washed half a mile upstream. Other roads were washed away.

Only now has heavy digging equipment arrived to help parents in their desperate search.

Mrs Fukuda, 43, reached the scene by wading for miles through water on foot.

Her daughter Risa, 12, and son Masaki, nine, were among the pupils.

When she got there only the skeleton of the semicircular concrete school building was still standing. Nearby, around 100 homes had been washed clean away.

She has roamed the area ever since with other families, looking under tree trunks, smashed cars and blocks of concrete for their missing children.

The body of her daughter was among the first found, but her son remains lost.

"Risa played the piano and she had just started learning English. She loved it," Mrs Fukuda said in tears. "Masaki was in all the school plays. He had a beautiful face. "I told my children if there was ever a tsunami they should go into the hills. But when I got here, they were not there."

According to parents, one teacher, Jinji Endo, who had previous experience of tsunamis, took a single child up into the hills to safety. But the other teachers told the rest of the pupils to stay in the playground.

"If they had all listened to Mr Endo and climbed up the hill they would all have been safe," said Mrs Fukuda. "I think about that a lot. But the teachers died as well so there is no point being angry. I cannot criticise them, what would be the point? No one knew the wave could come this far." Kazutoshi Ogata, 44, and his wife Emi, 38, found the body of their son Ryusei, 10, but there was no sign of their seven-year-old daughter Karen.

Mr Ogata said: "This place looks like a missile or a bomb has hit it. When I first got here I just dug with my hands.

"I found my son's satchel and his calligraphy brushes and that's all I have now. After we found his body I got permission to bury him because the man who does cremations has been killed as well.

"The saddest thing now is waiting for my daughter, but I will wait here and keep looking, as long as it takes."

His wife said: "I wish they had all gone to higher ground. But I think the teachers tried their best to protect the children. Nobody could have expected what happened. It's not their fault."

6.8-magnitude quake strikes NE Myanmar; no tsunami

YANGON, Myanmar – A powerful earthquake struck northeastern Myanmar on Thursday night, shaking buildings as far away as Bangkok. No tsunami was generated.

The quake struck near Myanmar's borders with Thailand and Laos, about 70 miles (110 kilometers) from Chiang Rai. The northern Thai city sustained a little damage, according to Thai television.

There were no immediate reports of damage from the Myanmar side, a remote area where communications, even in the best of times, are difficult. The country's military-controlled government also tightly controls information.

The 6.8-magnitude quake was just six miles (10 kilometers) deep, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. At that strength and depth, it said 600,000 people could feel shaking anywhere from strong to violent. It added that since buildings in the area are considered vulnerable, moderate to very heavy damage could be expected.

Buildings swayed in Bangkok, about 480 miles (770 kilometers) south of the epicenter.

Max Jones, an Australian resident of the Thai capital, was in his 27th-floor apartment when his building started shaking so hard he had to grab the walls to keep from falling.

"It was bloody scary, I can tell you," he said. Jones said he could see people running in the streets.

The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said the quake was located too far inland to create a destructive wave.

Japan earthquake could cost $309 billion

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- Japan's devastating earthquake and tsunami could cost up to $309 billion, making it the most costly disaster in the country since the end of World War II, the Japanese government said Wednesday.

The destruction of homes, businesses and infrastructure could cost between ¥16 trillion and ¥25 trillion, equal to between $185 billion and $309 billion, Japan's Cabinet Office announced Wednesday, according to reports by Kyodo News in Tokyo.

But those estimates did not include the effect of the nuclear crisis at the Fukushima power plant and subsequent power outages.

Fears about nuclear radiation escalated Wednesday, as black smoke rose from the third reactor at the Fukushima plant and Tokyo's government said it had detected radioactive material in tap water.

''The most troublesome thing is harmful rumors and the psychological effect (on consumers) as a result of radiation concerns," economic and fiscal policy minister Kaoru Yosano told Kyodo News.

Yosano also said the total effect on the Japanese economy could be offset partially by a boost in activity from reconstruction efforts.

The death toll from the March 11 earthquake and ensuing tsunami is up to 9,408, with another 14,716 people confirmed missing, Japan's National Police Agency said Wednesday.

Major Japanese manufacturers, including Toyota Motor, Honda Motor, Nissan and Sony all shut down factories following the quake. While they have since resumed some operations, much of their business is still offline.

Japan warns on quake deaths rise

Police in Japan say 15,000 people may have been killed in a single prefecture, Miyagi, by the huge quake and tsunami which struck nine days ago.

The official death toll has now risen to 8,450, with 12,931 people missing.

But there was some good news after an 80-year-old woman and her grandson were found alive in the rubble of Ishinomaki city.

Attempts continue to stave off a meltdown at the Fukushima nuclear plant.

Engineers are still working to restore power supplies to the plant's cooling systems, which were knocked out by the tsunami.

But even when they do, there is no guarantee the cooling systems in the plant will work, says the BBC's Rupert Wingfield-Hayes in Toyko.

Experts say that an improvised spraying operation using fire trucks may have to continue for months, our correspondent says.

But officials said conditions in reactor 3 - which has presented engineers with the most serious problems - appeared to have stabilised on Sunday, after they warned earlier that rising pressure might require radioactive steam to be vented.
Homeless

The new figure of a possible 15,000 dead comes from police in the worst-hit Miyagi prefecture, and does not include the thousands more dead and missing in areas to the north and south.

It is looking increasingly clear that the death toll will top 20,000 people at least, our correspondent says.

The disaster dwarfs anything Japan has seen since World War II and people are beginning to talk of the disaster in similar terms, he says.

In a rare story of survival, an elderly woman and a 16-year-old boy, believed to be her grandson, were found alive in a house in Ishinomaki, Miyagi prefecture, nine days after the quake, said Japanese media and police.

Sumi and Jin Abe were trapped when their home collapsed in the quake but were able to get food from the refrigerator. They are both being treated in hospital.

The authorities have begun building temporary homes for some of the hundreds of thousands of people - including an estimated 100,000 children - still sheltering at emergency evacuation centres.

Many survivors have been enduring freezing temperatures without water, electricity, fuel or enough food.

The destruction of the mobile phone network means people are queuing for hours to make their allocated phone call of one minute.

And crippling fuel shortages mean long queues at some petrol stations.

Meanwhile, at the stricken Fukushima nuclear plant, firefighters have continued to spray water at the dangerously overheated reactors and fuel rods, in a desperate attempt to avert a meltdown.

Engineers hope that restoring power will allow them to restart pumps to continue the cooling process, and have attached power lines to reactors 1 and 2, but it is unclear when they will attempt to turn the power back on.

Kyodo news agency quoted Tokyo Electric Power Co as saying that previously overheated spent-fuel storage pools at reactors 5 and 6 had been cooled by Sunday morning.

On Friday officials raised the alert level at the plant from four to five on a seven-point international scale of atomic incidents.

The crisis, previously rated as a local problem, is now regarded as having "wider consequences".

It has highlighted the debate about the safety of nuclear power generation.

Some 2,000 anti-nuclear protesters took to the streets in the Taiwanese capital Taipei to protest against the construction of the island's fourth nuclear power plant, and anti-nuclear banners were also visible on an annual anti-war demonstration in Tokyo on Sunday.
Food ban mulled

Radiation levels have risen in the capital Tokyo, 240km (150 miles) to the south, but officials say the levels recorded are not harmful.

Radioactive contamination has been found in some food products from the Fukushima prefecture, Japanese officials say.

The iodine was found in milk and spinach tested between 16 and 18 March and could be harmful to human health if ingested, the officials said.

International nuclear experts at the IAEA say that, although radioactive iodine has a short half-life of about eight days, there is a short-term risk to human health if it is ingested, and it can cause damage to the thyroid.

On Sunday, chief cabinet secretary Yukio Edano said the government would decide by Monday whether to restrict consumption and shipments of food products from the area in the vicinity of the Fukushima plant.

But Reuters reported the health ministry had already prohibited the sale of raw milk from Fukushima prefecture.

Traces of radioactive iodine have also been found in tap water in Tokyo and five other prefectures, officials said on Saturday.

The traces are within government safety limits, but tests usually show no iodine.

Meanwhile, radiation has been detected for the first time in Japanese exports, with Taiwanese officials finding contamination in a batch of fava beans, although they say the amount is too small to be dangerous to humans.

Woman, grandson found at earthquake-wrecked home

TOKYO – An 80-year-old woman and her teenage grandson were rescued Sunday in northeastern Japan when the youth was able to pull himself out of their flattened two-story house nine days after the devastating earthquake and tsunami.

Jin Abe, 16, was seen calling out for help from the roof of the collapsed home in the hard-hit city of Ishinomaki, according to the Miyagi Prefectural Police. Like other homes in northeastern Japan, they had lost electricity and telephone service in the March 11 earthquake.

He led them inside to his 80-year-old grandmother, Sumi Abe. Both were conscious but weak, and had survived on the food they had in their refrigerator, said Shizuo Kawamura of the Ishinomaki police department.

The woman could not get out of the house because she has trouble walking, and the teenager, who was suffering from a low body temperature, had been unable until Sunday to pull himself from the wreckage, Kawamura told The Associated Press by telephone.

They were found by local police who realized they couldn't get the woman out of the collapsed house and had to call other rescuers, he said.

National broadcaster NHK showed video of the stunned but coherent woman being placed on a stretcher. She was able to give her name and told rescuers she had been in the house since it collapsed in the quake.

When asked if she was hurt, she said no.

The police said they were trying to learn if there had been other relatives living in the house and their whereabouts.

NHK showed them being taken by helicopter to a hospital.

Kawamura said that while the rescue was a reason for joy, the police had "too many other victims to find to take the time to celebrate."

After earthquake, Japan asks how a nation prepares for the unimaginable

Japan has been widely praised for its disaster readiness, but the magnitude 9.0 earthquake has the country asking how it can be better equipped to handle the next big one.

Mihama, Mie prefecture, japan

Fumie Sugiuchi lives so close to the beach that she can watch the moon rise over the Pacific Ocean from the second floor of her house, about eight hours by car southwest of Tokyo. But until a massive earthquake hit northern Japan on March 11, the retired elementary school teacher said she never took the threat of a tsunami seriously.

"We always thought we'd be fine here. After watching the footage from the north, I think that was a mistake," says Ms. Sugiuchi, holding up a neatly folded – and unused – emergency supply bag that the town government distributed, along with a list of what should go in it, nearly 20 years ago.

Japan has been widely praised for its thorough disaster preparedness and advanced earthquake prediction technology. One week ago, however, a magnitude 9.0 earthquake triggered a devastating tsunami that has resulted in a nuclear crisis, far exceeding the hazard estimates that inform disaster management plans.

Japan nuclear crisis: A timeline of key events

Now, as Japan struggles to help hundreds of thousands of displaced victims and prevent a nuclear meltdown at the same time, Japan is asking a new question: How can a nation prepare for the unimaginable?

"We're going to have to change almost everything [related to disaster planning]," says Manabu Hashimoto, an earthquake scientist at Kyoto University's Disaster Prevention Research Institute.

State of readiness

In the seaside town of Mihama, Mie Prefecture, where Ms. Sugiuchi lives, many disaster-response measures are already in place. Wireless announcement systems in each house, and in public places throughout town, issue a warning as soon as a coming earthquake is detected. Seconds later, the system automatically warns that a tsunami may follow.

The community of about 10,000 has 61 neighborhood-disaster response groups. Residents are advised to prepare three days' worth of emergency supplies, and the town hall stocks even more.

But town planning official Masanao Hashiji has started to doubt whether that's enough. "In the kind of disaster that just hit, the town hall itself is at risk of being washed away. The question is, just how much do we need to prepare for?"

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Mr. Hashimoto, of Kyoto University, says last week's disaster also highlights fundamental problems with Japan's early-warning system. Because fault lines ruptured in four different places over a span of 300 miles, detection devices were unable to function accurately and initially underestimated the quake's strength by about 10 times, he says.

Tsunami warnings came quickly, he adds, but the height of the waves far exceeded what towns had prepared for. A government research council had forecast a 90 percent likelihood of a magnitude 8.0 earthquake shaking Sendai – near the epicenter of last week's temblor – in the next 30 years. Local disaster response plans were based on that estimate.

Tsunamis frequently batter the region, and in vulnerable inlets residents routinely flee to high ground as soon as an earthquake hits. This time, however, huge walls of water reached three miles inland.
History of disasters

Major natural disasters are not unusual in Japan. Just 16 years ago, the Great Hanshin Earthquake killed more than 5,000 people and destroyed vast swaths of wooden houses around the city of Kobe. In the aftermath, Japan rethought its approach to disaster management. National and local response plans were revised, improved information-sharing systems designed, and a new cabinet post – Minister of State for Disaster Management – created to coordinate action.

"It took four days for any Self-Defense Forces to come into [Kobe]. This time, instantaneous information has allowed emergency rescue squads to be there in a few hours. It's a textbook case of emergency preparedness," says David Edgington, a geographer and earthquake expert at the University of British Columbia.

"Of course we need plans based on what we can rationally expect to happen. But we also need to think about events that go beyond rational predictions," said Hiroshima Governor Hidehiko Yuzaki.

For Mihama resident Ms. Sugiuchi, the haunting images from northern Japan have shadowed a long-unquestioned sense of safety.

"Even in a civilization as technologically advanced as ours, in the end people can only rely on the most primitive of things, like candles and kerosene stoves.... When I look at that reality, I have deep doubts about how much we can protect ourselves from disasters," she said.

Japan earthquake: 'I had a lucky escape'

Jupiter’s Simon Somerville, safely back from Tokyo, on why the Japanese economy should recover strongly from the disaster

Japan fund manager Simon Somerville is sitting in the Jupiter offices next to Hyde Park less than 48 hours after he fled the devastation in Japan. Although he described the ordeal as a “very lucky escape”, he also said he felt guilty for leaving.

“I felt like I was running away from it all, and I know other foreigners felt the same,” he said. “The Japanese are a fantastic people, and it is not fair that this has happened to them. It’s devastating to think that now they are going to have to go through this really difficult adjustment phase. It’s going to be a difficult couple of years.”
What was your experience of the earthquake?

Japan has a lot of earthquakes, so you get used to them. I was there all last week and we had two or three earthquakes on Wednesday and Thursday which woke me up in the night, but that’s just the way Japan works, they’re not concerning.

The thing about an earthquake is when it starts no one tells you how long it’s going to go on for. The big one on Friday went on for just over four minutes. That was scary, it just went on and on.

I was in a taxi and you’re just watching these buildings swaying left and right, and thinking “any second now they’re going to fall over”.

The initial reaction was relief, because everything was still standing. My taxi driver had a television in his cab, so we switched it on and they started talking about the tsunami. Even now I don’t think we know how many people were lost to the tsunami. People are saying 10,000 but I think it’s going to be a lot more than that.
What was the mood in Tokyo when you left?

It depended who you were talking to. The expat community was scared and had the option to leave, so they left. The nuclear issue only really started on Saturday afternoon, and certainly some people on hearing just got in their car and drove.

The other issue in Tokyo is the shortage of electricity and vital things like water. The mood among the locals is much less hysterical than it is overseas.

I was amazed, when the earthquake hit, at the calmness. People weren’t running around the streets shouting “the end is nigh”, which would tend to be a Western reaction.

There’s a clip on the internet of all these people watching the tsunami hitting, watching it with resignation. There is no wailing. The Japanese knew this was coming. They were brought up with the concept that “the big one” is coming at some point.
Have you had news from Japan?

On Tuesday, prime minister Kan went on television at lunchtime and said there was more risk of radiation and advised people to stay indoors.

The market fell sharply at that and there were queues of people trying to get trains out of Tokyo.

I got an email from a friend in Tokyo saying: “I would be lying if I told you I wasn’t scared. I left the office early last night and stopped at two different supermarkets. They’ve completely sold out of rice, bread and canned goods, flashlights and batteries, and many petrol stations have a lack of petrol and kerosene.”

You have to understand this is very much an east coast situation; once you get to Osaka there’s no issue at all. There’s no impact from the earthquake and there is electricity, as Japan runs two separate electricity systems. Osaka might develop a refugee problem, but there is no panic. It’s very much a two-tier economy going on.
What is your view on the markets?

It’s scary! Because the nuclear issue has the ability to change everything, positively and negatively.

Earlier in the week we felt that Japan was doing everything they could with Fukushima, that there weren’t going to be any significant environmental implications to what was happening.

There is a brand new nuclear plant closer to the centre of the earthquake that we’re told is undamaged, but Fukushima is quite old. If other plants have been damaged then there is a power problem.

After the Kobe earthquake you had two or three months of dip and then a sharp recovery, and actually that’s not bad for the economy as you focus the effort on the right areas.

The most positive thing we could see is if the Fed [US Federal Reserve], the ECB [European Central Bank] and, almost crucially, the Chinese all came out and said: “We want the yen to weaken.”
Which of your fund’s holdings were affected?

The biggest impact is on East Japan Railway. This runs the railway north from Tokyo and we have no final confirmation on the damage on that yet, but that stock has been hit pretty hard. A defensive stock that didn’t really defend.

We also own two stocks that have nuclear exposure. Toshiba, which bought Westinghouse Electric a couple of years ago, and MHI –Mitsubishi Heavy Industries.
Do you see buying opportunities in this?

The initial reaction to an earthquake is that construction companies do well. They go shooting up, but I would be careful of buying into rebuilding names because they are not going to sting the economy to make money, they’re not greedy Westerners. Steel and cement will be interesting sectors.
Before all this, what sectors were exciting you about Japan?

It’s quite difficult to talk about the past now, everything has changed.

We had been increasingly moving into exporters, as we thought the yen was going to weaken. We continue to think the yen is going to weaken, so we probably would stay that way.

Japan has got some fantastic companies, global brand names that make things better than any other people do, whether that’s the car manufacturers, electronic component makers – a big theme for us has been the increased percentage of Japanese components going into Apple products.
Will the surrounding countries be affected?

There will be some countries that benefit massively from what has happened in Japan, because they are competing with Japan. For example, we don’t know much about Toshiba’s facilities yet, but if something has happened, Samsung will benefit.
What do you say to investors who want to give up on Japan?

It depends on your risk tolerance. I can totally understand people saying: “I’ve had enough of Japan.”

That’s all very well when Japan is going down, but you tend to see those same people coming back in when Japan is going up.

I expect some people will give up on Japan, but equally there will be some who see this as a buying opportunity.

Japan Earthquake Shortened Days, Increased Earth's Wobble

 The magnitude 9.0 earthquake that struck Japan last Friday was powerful enough to shorten Earth's day by 1.8 microseconds and throw an extra 6.7 inches (17 centimeters) into the planet's wobble, scientists say.

(See 20 unforgettable pictures from the Japan earthquake and tsunami.)

That doesn't mean shockwaves from the event somehow knocked Earth off its north-south axis, around which the planet revolves.

Instead the quake shifted what's called Earth's figure axis, an imaginary line around which the world's mass is balanced, about 33 feet (10 meters) from the north-south axis.

Earth naturally wobbles slightly as it spins, because shifting surface mass such as melting glaciers and moving ocean currents can throw the planet off balance.

Data from high-precision GPS instruments show that parts of Japan shifted by as much as 13 feet (4 meters) as the fault plates lurched due to the earthquake. This allowed scientists to calculate how much Earth's overall mass distribution had shifted and thus how much the wobble was affected.

The shifting mass also affected the planet's spin rate, according to geophysicist Richard Gross, of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. He compares what happened to a figure skater pulling her arms closer to her body, causing her to spin faster.

Because Earth is big, the effect is tiny—a microsecond is only a millionth of a second. For most of us, Gross said, "it has no real practical consequence."

Researchers are more intrigued by the change in Earth's wobble, which could inform future space missions, and the data collected on small earthquakes leading up to the main event, which may help with earthquake prediction.

Japan Earthquake Data "Unbelievably Good"

Similar changes to Earth's mass distribution were calculated from GPS data obtained during the 2004 Sumatra earthquake and the 2010 Chile earthquake. In the case of Sumatra, the change in the length of the day was larger: 6.8 microseconds.

But for the Japan earthquake, the change in Earth's wobble was more than twice as large as those calculated for the 2004 and 2010 events.

That's exciting, Gross said, because the wobble is large enough that scientists might actually be able to measure it, not just calculate it, by looking for small changes to Earth's tilt.

Still, since other factors also redistribute mass in the form of air and water, random changes to Earth's wobble might mask the effect of the earthquake.

(Related: "Japan Battles to Avert Nuclear Power Plant Disaster.")

Other geophysicists say that there are even more exciting things that can be done with the GPS data from the Japan earthquake.

For example, Japanese GPS instruments, strain meters, and seismometers recorded dozens of smaller quakes leading up to the main event, said Ken Hudnut, a geophysicist at the U.S. Geological Survey's Pasadena office.

Scientists poring over the data will be trying to figure out if there was anything unusual in the prior earthquakes that might have indicated they were foreshocks to a bigger event, rather than more ordinary tectonic rumblings.

(Also see "Japan Earthquake Not the 'Big One'?")

"The question is, did the GPS or strain meters show a precursor," Hudnut said. "Because if they did, it will revolutionize earthquake research forever."

In Sumatra, Hudnut added, the GPS data was "pretty good." In Chile it was "much better," and for Japan, the positioning and nature of the instruments made the data "unbelievably good."

"We may not get another data set like this until I don't know when. Here, we have a monster earthquake not too far offshore, and GPS instruments along the coast," he said.

"So much of what scientists do is about getting the right instruments in the right position to record some natural phenomenon, so we can understand it better. If there was anything precursory associated with those foreshocks, it should have been seen on that array of instruments."

(Related: "Major Earthquake Due to Hit Southern California, Study Says.")

Earth's wobble calculations aren't relevant to this particular quest, NASA's Gross said, but they are more than just a curiosity. Understanding Earth's spin movement is critical in space launches, for instance.

"When we navigate spacecraft to land a rover on Mars, we have to be able to account for changes in the Earth's rotation in order to [launch so that we] precisely land the rover where we want to," he said. "If we didn't, we might miss Mars altogether."

Japan earthquake: minute of silence held for victims (VIDEO)

People across Japan observe a minute's silence in memory of victims of the earthquake and tsumani that struck exactly one week ago.

Japan earthquake live report : as it happened

 Earthquake live report - Fri Mar 11, 2011

3.15pm
The first shaking started about 30 minutes ago. It still hasn't stopped.

I'm writing this from the Time Out office, a ground floor room at the base of a relatively new building. Across the road there's a tenement block. It's swaying horrifically - so much so, in fact, that it looks like a miniature, as though it's been subjected to tilt shift photo technology. I can't quite compute seeing a building doing that.

As I write, I can't get through to anyone. Nothing in the immediate vicinity has collapsed, but we're unable to get direct news from our friends and families - all the phones are down. The streets are full of people. What sound like air raid sirens are going off across the city. A colleague is on a train on the way to Narita Airport. He says it has stopped and that it's swaying in its tracks. The Tokyo folk in my office, born and raised in this city, say they've never felt anything like this before. They're jittery, which just makes me even more jittery.

We're getting unconfirmed reports from across the city - burning buildings in Odaiba, tsunamis crashing into Iwate. The only thing that seems to be working is Twitter, which is proving itself to be a doom-ladened rumour mill. 7.9 on the Richter scale, say the reports. Don't suppose that's in Tokyo, though. It's going to have been much worse elsewhere.

The aftershocks are almost as strong as the initial quake. This is no Christchurch, but we live with the daily fear here in Tokyo that, any day, it could be. For the moment, we can only hope that nobody is badly hurt.

3.45pm
This building is still on the move. Books, computers, coffee cups - none of them are where they should be. Our friends have sent in photos of an entire library emptied across the floor. Most people are back in the building, but they are on the edge of their chairs. I'm halfway under the desk.

We're hearing now that Narita Airport has closed. We're hearing it on an old radio. It feels like I'm listening to a war report.

3.50pm
Just seeing the reports that Onahama City in Fukushima Prefecture has been hit by a huge wave. A 32ft wave is feared in Iwate.

Back in Tokyo, the rumblings seem to have stopped, but eight large fires are reported to have broken out across the city. Sumida-ku, Chuo-Ku, Ota-ku, Arakawa-ku, and more. The roof of Kudan Kaikan has collapsed.

4.08
The rumblings have now stopped. Amazing that they really were rumblings - you could hear the second big earthquake growling before the tables started moving. Two quakes appear to have hit Japan simultaneously - Miyagi Prefecture and then Ibaraki. Warnings of a 32ft tsunami are doing the rounds.

People are arriving back at the office from across the city - all of them own their own cars. Getting anywhere in Tokyo by public transport this evening is not going to be easy.

The Richter Scale level has been shifted up to 8.9.

The thing that strikes me immediately is how unprepared the people around me seem to be. This city has been waiting for 'The Big One' since 1923. The shelves of stores like Tokyu Hands are full of emergency stock, and yet, nobody I know seems to have prepared an emergency pack. Nobody has any good idea of what to do. As the first quake hit, I followed my colleagues outside where we stood on a mud patch surrounded by old buildings. Nobody was sure if that was the right place to be or not. Some said they were told, as children, to get under the desk, yet nobody was willing to take their own advice. This may prove to be the biggest problem should a massive quake hit the city directly.

The aftershocks continue. I don't think Tokyo will be sleeping comfortably tonight.

5.00pm
Aftershocks are still keeping us on edge, but our accountant has just turned up, which suggests that Tokyo life is already getting back to normal. Phones are still down and bus is the only form of transportation. Awful scenes from the North, though, with farms, trucks, ships, homes... all washed out to sea.

We can consider ourselves lucky in many ways - the Christchurch quake was considerably weaker at 6.3 than today's (currently being reported as 8.8-8.9), and - as far as we know - Tokyo seems to have got off lightly. For those in Kamaishi, however, this is undoubtedly going to be a sad time. No death toll announced yet, but the mood here is sombre.

5.15pm
With the phone network still jammed, we've just been told that public pay phones have been made free so that people can contact their families. Offices around Hiroo are closing early, but people are finding it impossible to get home. Buses are the only option. Taxis are thin on the ground.

There's a special message service in operation if you want to check on missing loved ones. Dial 171, leave a message with your home number. Anyone who knows your home number can check on your safety.

Free phones are now operating in the following areas: Fukushima, Yamagata, Iwate, Miyagi, Akita, Aomori.

5.20pm
Tokyo is now moving again. Everyone still on edge.

Google has started a Person Finder service, in case you're fearful for loved ones.

5.30pm
Disturbing news coming in off the radio that Disneyland is quickly flooding.

5.45pm
Seconds ago our phones started bleeping their pre-quake warnings. Fukushima and Ibaraki are on alert again. Everyone is sitting really quietly, almost as if they expect to be able to hear the next quake hit.

5.50pm
Meiji University's Liberty Tower has opened its their to the public. People can share information and watch the news from there.

Haneda Airport has cancelled all departures. Arrivals are still being accepted.

JR has announced that they will be running no more train services today. Shinjuku Station has opened a safe shelter nearby. Tokyo appears to be on high alert.

25 people are reported to have been injured in the earlier roof collapse at Kudan Kaikan. More news as and when we get it. Tremors still occurring.

6.20
While there have been no major casualties in Tokyo, thousands are stranded tonight as taxis and hotels find themselves oversubscribed. The following public spaces have been opened to people unable to get home.

Tukiji Honganji, Shinbashi Daiichi Hotel lobby, Ikebukuro Rikkyo University, Shinagawa Prince Hotel lobby, Shibuya & Omotesando Aoyama Gakuin University gymnasium.

6.30pm
Tokyo Tower takes a hit.

8.30pm
It has been a tiring afternoon, but the camaraderie in this city is palpable. Loads of businesses and companies offering shelter to the stranded folk who can't get home (including Time Out Tokyo staff!). We've tried our best to provide a list of everything people might need to get through the evening in the capital, but we can only wish that we were able to help the folk up north. The death toll is growing and the damage is gigantic. News has just arrived that the Ginza line may be up and running again, which is a positive sign at least.

8.35pm
Ah! The phones are back on!

8.40pm
We're told that over 40 earthquakes have been reported today in Japan alone, all over a magnitude of 6. We'd want to confirm that before we believed it, but we're more than willing to believe that there are plenty more aftershocks expected across the country this weekend. Stay safe!

9.55pm
Listening to the radio announcements - people trying to get in touch with loved ones. A long, unending processions of names and pleas. Awful to hear. Feeling awfully useless sitting here.

11.50pm
As the day approaches midnight, we're starting to see the pacific coast of the country light up red on the NHK tsunami maps. The damage is not yet known, but it looks like a country under attack. From the north, Miyagi Prefecture, we're seeing raging fires spreading out of control. The mood in this office has gone from adrenalin-fuelled determination to a kind of subdued despair.

Midnight
No rest for Tokyo tonight. The aftershocks are long and worrying. Every slight movement prompts us to get up and prepare to run outside, as if that might be the safer place to be. As we've seen with the horrific scenes in Sendai, not even the great wide open can guarantee security.

00.15am
Yet another large aftershock slams into Tokyo. My colleague, born and raised in the capital, tells me: 'We had earthquake training at school when we were kids, but I was too scared to use it today. I thought I was used to earthquakes...'

Doesn't this last sentence speak volumes?

00.40
The most amazing footage coming out of Tokyo of earthquake-proof skyscrapers doing what they're designed to do.

1.15am
Our photographer has been located after a four-hour trek across the city. He sends these reports:

'Traffic was jammed at every main street and interaction; side walks were in the same state, usually with everyone moving in the same direction leaving little to no space if you tried to travel against the current.

'Despite all that, people seemed reasonably calm and friendly. Groups gathered at combinis, but in general people were on the move.

'At the stations lots of people were just waiting; sitting, or standing in lines.

'Bus station in Shibuya was absolutely packed solid with people waiting and, strangely for a Friday, restaurants and bars were all but empty.

'In Shimokitazawa, a lot of people where waiting in the station, and some of them of them trying to get through the gate. It wasn't clear if they would just wait inside or if eventually a train would run.

'Trains on the Inokashira line were parked at each station, triggering the traffic gates at each crossing. Car traffic was blocked and people were running across the track, pushing under the gates.'

We're expecting the pictures some time in the morning.

Japan Earthquake Relief: Help Comes From More Than 100 Countries

The world has become a global force of doing good in the wake of the devastation from the earthquake and tsunami in Japan.

102 countries and 14 international organizations had offered assistance to Japan, according to Reuters.

From countries such as Afghanistan -- with struggles of its own-- to nations such as China, which has a storied past of strife with Japan. In this moment of need, the generosity of other countries and the outpour of monetary and material aid to Japan has dissolved traditional political and economic boundaries.

The latest figures show 3,300 confirmed dead in Japan and many thousands missing, according to the Associated Press.

Forbes reports that Britain will send a search-and-rescue team of more than 60 specialists, two rescue dogs and a medical support team. Britain also sent heavy lifting equipment to remove the debris thought to be covering thousands more corpses, according to the Los Angeles Times.

France sent about 100 people including rescue workers, civil security squads and a medical team. Japanese authorities have asked them to assist in clearing and rescue efforts, according to Forbes.

Reuters reports Australia sent an urban search and rescue team to Miyagi prefecture.

Lady Gaga Designs Bracelet For Japan Disaster Relief

The big-hearted star has launched an appeal to help victims of the tsunami…

Lady GaGa is raising money to help those affected by the earthquake and tsunami in Japan.

She has designed a bracelet, a white rubber band, featuring her trademark monster’s claw and the slogan We Pray For Japan, which is written in both English and Japanese.

An announcement on her official website read: "Lady GaGa designed a We Pray For Japan prayer bracelet, buy yours now for $5 in the web store and all proceeds go to Japan tsunami relief."

She also urged her 8.7 million Twitter followers to participate: "I Designed a Japan Prayer Bracelet. Buy It/Donate here and ALL proceeds will go to Tsunami Relief Efforts. Go Monsters."

The bracelets are available from 25 March but can be pre-ordered on the Poker Face star’s official website for £3.

This isn’t the first time generous GaGa has done her bit for charity – after the Haiti earthquake she donated over $500,000 to a relief fund.

Other celebrities who have used Twitter to offer their condolences to Japan or encourage donations include Justin Bieber, Diddy, Britney Spears and Japanese stars Yoko Ono and Star Trek actor George Takei.

Japan earthquake: Japan warned over nuclear plants, WikiLeaks cables show

 Japan was warned more than two years ago by the international nuclear watchdog that its nuclear power plants were not capable of withstanding powerful earthquakes, leaked diplomatic cables reveal.

An official from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said in December 2008 that safety rules were out of date and strong earthquakes would pose a "serious problem" for nuclear power stations.

The Japanese government pledged to upgrade safety at all of its nuclear plants, but will now face inevitable questions over whether it did enough.

While it responded to the warnings by building an emergency response centre at the Fukushima plant, it was only designed to withstand magnitude 7.0 tremors. Friday's devastating earthquake was a magnitude 9.0 shock.

The news is likely to put further pressure on Japan's Prime Minister, Naoto Kan, who has been criticised for "dithering" over the country's response to the ongoing crisis at the Fukushima nuclear power plant.

Panic started to spread throughout Japan yesterday following the news that a third explosion at the plant might have damaged the protective casing around the reactor core, increasing the threat of radioactive leaks.

The government was considering using helicopters to spray water over the Fukushima site to limit the spread of radioactive particles as part of its increasingly desperate attempts to keep the situation under control.

Meanwhile the FTSE-100 share index fell by 1.4 per cent as stock markets around the world slumped in response to a 10.6 per cent drop in Japan's Nikkei index.

Warnings about the safety of nuclear power plants in Japan, one of the most seismologically active countries in the world, were raised during a meeting of the G8's Nuclear Safety and Security Group in Tokyo in 2008.

A US embassy cable obtained by the WikiLeaks website and seen by The Daily Telegraph quoted an unnamed expert who expressed concern that guidance on how to protect nuclear power stations from earthquakes had only been updated three times in the past 35 years.

The document states: "He [the IAEA official] explained that safety guides for seismic safety have only been revised three times in the last 35 years and that the IAEA is now re-examining them.

"Also, the presenter noted recent earthquakes in some cases have exceeded the design basis for some nuclear plants, and that this is a serious problem that is now driving seismic safety work."

The cables also disclose how the Japanese government opposed a court order to shut down another nuclear power plant in western Japan because of concerns it could not withstand powerful earthquakes.

The court ruled that there was a possibility local people might be exposed to radiation if there was an accident at the plant, which was built to out of date specifications and only to withstand a "6.5 magnitude" earthquake. Last Friday's earthquake, 81 miles off the shore of Japan, was a magnitude 9.0 tremor.

However, a cable from March 2006 reported that the court's concerns were not shared by the country's nuclear safety agency.

It says: "Japan's Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency believes the reactor is safe and that all safety analyses were appropriately conducted."

The Government successfully overturned the ruling in 2009.

Another cable reported to Washington local concerns that a new generation of Japanese power stations that recycle nuclear fuel were jeopardising safety.

The cable, quoting a local newspaper, reports: "There is something precarious about the way all electric power companies are falling in step with each other under the banner of the national policy. We have seen too many cases of cost reduction competition through heightened efficiency jeopardizing safety."

The cables also disclose how Taro Kono, a high-profile member of Japan's lower house, told US diplomats in October 2008 that the government was "covering up" nuclear accidents.

He alleged that the government was ignoring alternative forms of energy, such as wind power.

The cable states: "He also accused METI [the Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry] of covering up nuclear accidents, and obscuring the true costs and problems associated with the nuclear industry." He added that the Japan's "extensive seismic" activity raised safety concerns about storing nuclear material.

Mr Kan was not in office at the time the nuclear warnings were made. He became science and technology minister in 2009 and prime minister in June 2010.

2011 Japan Earthquake, Tsunami One of the Worst in History?

 The devastation for the 8.9 magnitude Japanese earthquake and its sister tsunami has yet to be fully determined, but fortunately for the people of Japan and all other affected areas within reach of the tsunami, it doesn't appear as if the death toll will reach the horrific totals that were reached during Japan's most deadly seismic event, the Great Kanto Earthquake of 1923, where over 133,000 people were killed. Nor does it appear that it will approach the even more catastrophic event in 2004, when an earthquake centered off the coast of Sumatra generated a tsunami that ultimately killed over 300,000 people and affected dozens of countries. In fact, the 2011 Sendai Earthquake tsunami, although it peaked at 33 feet as it rolled inland through Japan and caused damage as far away as the Pacific Coast of the United States, might not even register as one of the five worst in history.

Five of the worst recorded tsunamis throughout history:

* Krakatoa, 1883. The worst tsunami ever was recorded in 1833 following the eruption of Krakatoa. The Indonesia volcanic island erupted with such force that it destroyed two-thirds of the island of Krakatoa. According to the Christian Science Monitor, nearly 40,000 people in Java and Sumatra were killed by the event and the resulting tsunami, which reached cresting heights up to 130 feet.

* Nankaido, Japan, 1498. Just six years after Columbus set sail toward the Americas, Japan experienced a massive 8.6 magnitude earthquake that sent a tsunami towering 56 feet into the air and crashing into Nankaido. According to the National Geophysical Data Center, 31,000 people lost their lives.

* Lisbon, Portugal, 1755. A 9.0 magnitude earthquake rocked the Atlantic Ocean in 1755 that generated a wave that crested at 40 to 60 feet. According to "The Tsunami Page," the wall of water crashed down onto Portugal's capital city of Lisbon, devastating the city and its surroundings. It is estimated that over 90,000 people were killed, with an additional 10,000 killed in Morocco.

* Messina, Italy, 1908. A 7.5 earthquake hit in the Straits of Messina, between the island of Sicily and Calabria, Italy. The resulting tsunami crested at 40 feet and destroyed several Italian cities, like Messina and Reggio de Calabria. The earthquake and tsunami killed 80,000 people. Brittanica.com notes that the Messina Earthquake may have been the most powerful earthquake to have ever hit Europe.

* Indian Ocean Tsunami, 2004. A 9.3 magnitude earthquake off the coast of Sumatra island the day after Christmas in 2004 resulted in perhaps the deadliest earthquake and tsunami in history. Waves reached heights of up to 80 feet and the tsunami raced around the Indian Ocean, killing an estimated 300,000 people, according to AFP. The Indian Ocean Earthquake was the longest in recorded history, according to CNN, lasting between 500-600 seconds.

It should be noted that, as devastating as the tsunamis recorded as among the worst were, they were not responsible for the annihilation of an entire culture. According to the Dr. David Sewell, the Santorini eruption in the Mediterranean is believed by many scholars to have, along with release of volcanic material and the generation of tsunamis, either destroyed or contributed greatly in the decline and disappearance of the Minoan civilization that was centered on the island of Crete.

The 2011 Sendai Tsunami is estimated to have killed over 3600 people, according to Kyodo New Service of Japan, although the numbers could be far worse. Over 9,000 people in one village alone are unaccounted for and over 300,000 people have been evacuated from hard-hit regions. The earthquake, the epicenter of which was located 80 miles off the Japanese coast, is the strongest seismic event in Japan's history.

Watch raw footage of the Japan earthquake and tsunami

An 8.9 magnitude earthquake off the coast of Northeast Japan spawned a ferocious tsunami that's caused massive destruction; flattening whole cities, starting raging fires, and killing hundreds.

The death toll has climbed above 10,000, with thousands still missing. In this stirring footage, you see the power of the tsunami tearing through the city of Kesennuma:



UPDATE: An earlier version of this story indicated that 80,00 persons were missing in Japan, but that figure was later disputed.