The 8.9-magnitude tremor struck in the afternoon local time on Friday off the coast of Honshu island at a depth of about 24km, 400km (250 miles) north-east of Tokyo. It has shifted Japan’s cost line by 2.4m and reports from the National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology in Italy estimated the quake shifted the planet on its axis by nearly 10cm. It was nearly 8,000 times stronger than last month’s quake in New Zealand that devastated the city of Christchurch, scientists. The tsunami was triggered by Japan’s biggest earthquake since records began.

We have analysed data from the US Geological Survey covering all earthquakes since 2009. We have used Tableau in our analysis. To get the most of this insight click on the visualisation below to bring the data to life. Click on years, multiple values and/or basically anything you find interesting and watch how the visualisations update automatically.

It is amazing how many earthquakes occur on a daily basis. Whilst most go unnoticed, the majority of the earthquakes average 4.75 in magnitude. The tectonics plates are very active and you can trace them on the map.

In the last 2.5 years, only 3 earthquakes above a magnitude of 8 hit and these were in Samoa, off Chile, and Japan. In the same period, we’ve had seven earthquakes in the UK (2 this year) averaging 3.4 and a maximum of 3.7.

The Fix Islands have recorded the highest number of quakes since 2009, a whopping 2,971 with average magnitude of 3.04 and a maximum of 6.7.

We wish Japan a speedy recovery and all other communities impacted by earthquakes.