The 7.4 magnitude earthquake that hit northeastern Japan late Wednesday shook a region that*s still recovering from the devastation of the Great East Japan Earthquake and the ensuing tsunami and nuclear disaster.
But were the two quakes related? And if not, was this temblor a foreshock that could portend an even larger earthquake in the near future, as was the case when a 7.2 magnitude quake struck the Tohoku region two days ahead of the mega-quake on March 11, 2011?
At least three people died and scores more were injured in the Wednesday night quake, which registered a strong 6 on the Japanese seismic intensity scale to 7 in Miyagi and Fukushima prefectures. A smaller quake registering a weak 5 occurred two minutes before the larger shock.

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