Japan EQ & Tsunami: Environmental Effects

. How did earthquake change our nature? The scale includes observations on primary effects like

• surface ruptures
• uplift/subsidence

and on secondary effects like

• mass movements (rockfalls and landslides)
• ground cracks
• liquefaction
• waves and tsunamis
• hydrogeological anomalies
• tree shaking and
• the extend of the affected area.

http://www.paleoseismicity.org/2011/03/13/japan-eq-tsunami-environmental-effects/

Impact of the Japan earthquake and tsunami on animals and environment

                                   
 A bit of information about various scaley, furry, or feathered critters has begun to trickle out of the affected areas.ScienceInsiderthat the biggest impact on wildlife would be on shorebirds nesting on small islands throughout the Pacific, rather than on the Japanese mainland. Indeed, the majority of wildlife-related news of the tsunami has come from small Pacific islands such as those in the Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge.
http://www.greenpeoplenews.com/en/2011/03/22/impact-of-the-japan-earthquake-and-tsunami-on-animals-and-environment/

Earthquake

Earthquakes, also called temblors, can be so tremendously destructive.

Some 80 percent of all the planet's earthquakes occur along the rim of the Pacific Ocean, called the "Ring of Fire" Scientists assign a magnitude rating to earthquakes based on the strength and duration of their seismic waves. A quake measuring 3 to 5 is considered minor or light; 5 to 7 is moderate to strong; 7 to 8 is major; and 8 or more is great.

http://environment.nationalgeographic.com/environment/natural-disasters/earthquake-profile.html