'Earthquake aftershocks could go on'

An expert has warned that people in Japan should brace for aftershocks from devastating earthquake because it could go on for years, though they'd get weaker as time goes on.

An expert has warned that people in Japan should brace for aftershocks from devastating earthquake because it could go on for years, though they'd get weaker as time goes on.

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Dr Marcia McNutt, director of the US Geological Survey, told "The Early Show on Saturday Morning" co-anchor Rebecca Jarvis that the 8.9-magnitude temblor's power could provide electricity to a city the size of Los Angeles "for an entire year."

The aftershocks, she said, are "the unnerving part of it" in that it's not "just the five minutes of shaking from this earthquake, but it keeps going on and on and on, in terms of disrupting the lives of not only the citizens, but the relief workers.

There's something called Omori's Law, which governs the aftershocks, that there's aftershocks on Day One.

And half as many aftershocks on Day Two. And one-third as many aftershocks on Day Three.

And it keeps going on for literally years afterwards, disrupting the lives.