According to one USGS scientist, the recent earthquake off the northeastern coast of Japan has moved the large island’s coast by 8 feet and shifted the Earth’s axis of rotation by almost four inches (10 cm).
Other reports are stating while only about 1500 deaths have been officially acknowledged as of 36 hours after the quake the final death toll will likely be in the tens of thousands.
Update: The USGS has released an earthquake dataset and browser-enabled Google Earth explorer plugin to view earthquake data in real-time. Click here view. Interesting to see the plate movement arrows. Looks like the Pacific plate is explanding!