But on that fateful Friday, when the North American plate slid over the Pacific plate along a subduction zone running 130km (80 miles) off the Pacific coast of northern Japan, the shock leapt from the first segment to a second and on to a third, extending the fault zone some 400km and increasing its intensity more than 30-fold.
The new mayor also wants the Temple Meads Enterprise Zone to be larger, extending into Redcliffe, to link the train station there with the city centre, and he wants controls over supermarkets within Bristol's planning system.
In Berlin, the German Bundestag is expected to approve extending the size and scope of a euro zone bailout fund with the marble-mouth sounding name of the European Financial Stability Facility.