Slip after Earthquake
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Researchers have found a long tear in the earth near the epicenter of a strong earthquake that jolted the southern Japanese prefecture of Kumamoto early Saturday.

They believe the scattering of cracks, which start on a road and run into a rice paddy, trace the line of a fault that caused the tremor.

Hiroshima University Professor Emeritus Takashi Nakata and his team have been examining the area around Mashiki Town since the magnitude-7.3 earthquake.

They found the deviation that runs through a rice paddy is about 1.2 meters wide. The earth on one side of the line is elevated by 50 centimeters.

On the road next to the paddy, the biggest crack is 2 meters wide. The height difference between the ground on each side is 70 centimeters.

The researchers say the Futagawa and Hinagu faults both run through the area.

Nakata says a government panel of seismologists had expected that faults in the area would slip by up to 2 meters. He said the scale of the Saturday earthquake was nearly as big as the panel's estimate.