LOS ANGELES — U.S. Geological Survey officials have chosen a name for the 9.0 temblor that struck Japan last week. They’re calling it the Tohoku earthquake — shortened from the original name used in Japan.
Tohoku is a region in the northern part of Honshu, Japan’s largest island. Though the region — encompassing six of the island’s northernmost prefectures — sits north of the massive quake’s offshore epicenter, it became its namesake because it takes up much of the area shaken by the earthquake’s approximately 250-mile-long rupture area.
The name comes from the Japanese words “Tohoku-Chiho Taiheiyo-Oki,” said Brian Atwater, a geologist with USGS. Roughly translated, this means, “Pacific offshore Tohoku region.” Officials decided “Tohoku” was the key word in the name. Los Angeles Times
