The number of aftershocks in Japan appears to be slowing down, as to be expected, following the massive 9.0 earthquake 9 days ago.

WeatherWatch.co.nz has compared USGS mapping of the quakes on Google Earth and despite there being more quakes overall on the map the number of earthquakes in the past 24 hours has dropped considerably from the same time last week.

The top image was created on Saturday March 12th.  Yellow dots are quakes from the past 7 days, orange dots are quakes from the past 24 hours. (red within the last hour)

The bottom image was created on Saturday March 19th.  Ignoring the fact that Google has ‘remembered’ all the aftershocks since last weekend (yellow) it’s clear to see the number of daily shakes (orange) has dropped considerably.

However Japan is not out of the woods yet with scientists saying while aftershocks slowly decline the risk of a powerful aftershocks of over 7.0 on the Richter Scale is highly likely over the coming weeks and months. 

One week ago – Image taken eight days ago showing a huge amount of aftershocks with a 24 hour period (orange only).

Yesterday – One week later and the number of 24 hour aftershocks (orange) has reduced significantly.  Yellow indicate all quakes over the week.  We’ve also zoomed in further to ensure there aren’t orange dots hidden under yellow ones – of which there there was only one.

– WeatherWatch.co.nz