How the Japan Earthquake Shortened Days on Earth - space.com, 13 March 2011
The length of the 24-hour Earth day shortened by 1.8 microseconds as a result of the massive earthquake that struck northeast Japan on March 11, according to geophysicist Richard Gross at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. The reason is similar to the situation of a figure skater drawing her arms inward during a spin to turn faster on the ice. The closer the mass shift during an earthquake is to the equator, the more it will speed up the spinning Earth. Another earthquake consequence is that Japann's main island has moved about 8 feet. An earthquake in China last year shortened the day by 1.26 microseconds. The 9.1 Sumatra earthquake in 2004 shortened the day by 6.8 microseconds.
These events, like shortening Earth day, do not have any significant effect on everyday life. I think that Daylight Saving Time has certain effect on human health, and not all scientists agree that this effect is beneficial. I think humanity should invest more effort and resources into scientific methods of earthquake predictions, so that natural disasters like Japanese earthquake won't have such a devastating effect on the population.
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