There is a Universal Truth ™ related to teaching geoscience: there will always be a current event to point to. We live on a dynamic planet. Things move – sometimes undesirably. Japan is suffering from one of the strongest earthquakes in recorded history. Added to this are the compounded damages from the tsunami and the nuclear reactor failures. There are plenty of good discussions of the specifics behind the Sendai Earthquake.
Matt Kuchta (University of Wisconson-Stout) used our Dual-Range Force Sensor and Low-g Accelerometer to do a great demonstration of how earthquakes happen.