The confrontation of ideas at these workshops has definitively advanced the discipline to a level that archaeoseismological evidence is now considered as a complementary source of earthquake data in the whole range of approaches in earthquake science.

UNESCO: Tales set in Stone: learning from ancient earthquakes

The area of eastern Japan which is an important source of electrical components for the car industry has been badly hit by the earthquake in March.

BBC: Toyota cuts UK car production due to parts shortage

Tokyo Electric has been using colored powder to trace the source of highly radioactive water leaking into the ocean near Fukushima, which was damaged by an earthquake and tsunami last month.

FORBES: On Japan: Russia Sends Help, China Finds Radiation and India Bans Rice

The global future of nuclear as a power source was also called into question after the disaster which occurred in March 2011 when a Japanese earthquake and tsunami rocked the reactors at Fukushima, leaving radioactivity leaking from the plant.

BBC: Nuclear power: UK will get help to compete, say ministers