Unstable ground threatens mudslides in northern prefectures after quake (JAPAN)

A collapsed slope is seen in Otsuchi, Iwate Prefecture, on May 17, behind temporary housing that is still under construction. Residents are still taking shelter because of the mudslide. (Mainichi)

Ongoing inspections of ground stability in five northeastern prefectures shaken badly by the Great East Japan Earthquake have uncovered deep cracks and unstable ground in 1,061 spots, it has been learned.

Forty-one of those spots require emergency safety maintenance but work is not expected to finish before the rainy season -- and the onset of typhoons in some areas. At least one area has already experienced a mudslide.

The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism ordered the five prefectures to conduct ground stability inspections on landslide-prone locations -- where the quake registered an upper 5 or higher on the Japanese intensity scale -- before the start of the rainy season in June. Iwate, Miyagi, Fukushima, Tochigi, and Ibaraki prefectures all had 20 or more municipalities with the quake measuring this strong. Of the 28,074 areas to be inspected across the five prefectures, 24,733 have already been surveyed.

http://mdn.mainichi.jp/mdnnews/news/20110519p2a00m0na020000c.html
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Gagh!! Earthquake, Fires, Tsunami, Nuclear Disasters, and now Mud Slides? O.o"

the geology changed enough.

Let's just hope there are nuclear power plants in any of the 1061 unstable spots.