8.9 Quake & Tsunami in JApan.

[notebook.fix]

At 2.46pm local Tokyo time a serious 8.9 quake struck....the biggest in 140 years for Japan.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-12709598
At 8am BsAs Time - Tsunami warnings are going out to all surrounding countries.
There's good coverage on the video channels at livestation.com

There's a cooling failure at #1 Nuclear power plant but no reports of radiation leaks.

 

[perry]

Quakes have increased over 500 % in the last years and this information is being supressed by the media . 2011 will be known as the year of the great earthquakes and expect more huge quakes to hit populated cities that will be similar to Haiti earthquake.

I believe that earthquakes and weather anomalies are the biggest problems that the Earth has faced for 1000s of years .

 

[clooz]

Having been through several magnitude 7's, a long-lasting 8.9 in a coastal area is unimaginable.

 

[notebook.fix]

Yes..agreed...I lived in Tokyo for one full year & I remember how just the magnitude 4s used to 'shake' me out of my bed sometimes...those were scary enough, but an 8.9?? Imagine being up in the 60 floor Sunshine building -I'm not sure if it's still the tallest bldg in Tokyo any more but I remember one of those monthly quakes & how the crowd behavior differed so greatly between the locals the tourist/foreigners. It was noted in a newspaper article how all the tourists panicked & crowded the elevators & stairs while the Japanese just stayed right were they were...their calm reaction was a stark contrast to the panicking European tourists...it's totally understandable.

This brought back many memories for me, one of them is the great discipline & control that the Japanese people posses during extreme times like this. What's amazing is that this quake is the worst in recorded history for Japan, the great Kanto quake in 1923 killed somewhere between 100,000 to 140,000...so far modern technology & smart planning appears to have made a seemingly miraculous difference in the death toll.

I have a Japanese friend in Tokyo & I'm waiting to hear how she is.

Having been through several magnitude 7's, a long-lasting 8.9 in a coastal area is unimaginable.

 

[Amargo]

expect more huge quakes to hit populated cities that will be similar to Haiti earthquake

Probably earthquakes that hit unpopulated areas didn't make it to the news in the past. And with the growth of the World population populated areas are more probably to being hit by earthquakes now.
No idea about statistics, but I remember some 20 years ago there was a chain of major earthquakes in Greece, Turkey, Iran. And at the time everybody was also talking about earthquakes being more frequent.

 

[pauper]

Probably earthquakes that hit unpopulated areas didn't make it to the news in the past. And with the growth of the World population populated areas are more probably to being hit by earthquakes now.
No idea about statistics, but I remember some 20 years ago there was a chain of major earthquakes in Greece, Turkey, Iran. And at the time everybody was also talking about earthquakes being more frequent.

I think if you calculate the total energy released of just the biggies between 1950-1965 it surpasses the total energy released of all earthquakes since then and I think that may still apply with this earthquake. But then I'm in PR with the New World Order so I would say that wouldn't I?

Earthquake? what earthquake? Move along nothing to see here.

 

[clooz]

My family is visiting Northern Honshu and Tokyo now, and they have survived, they are going to sleep outside tonight in a car. But we don't know about relatives who live in Sendai City.

Yes, the buildings and social organization of Japan have changed so much over the last 50 years to withstand and respond to earthquakes. Being up in a Tokyo high rise that's swaying and creaking like crazy in even a small quake is still just terrifying. After living 7 years in Japan, I felt relatively safe there.

However, I spent the last many years in the SF Bay Area, and experienced the 1989, 7.1 Loma Prieta Quake. It's hard to imagine what happens for real because it is so far outside everyday experience. In 1989 in our company' R&D labs were in a brand-new earthquake-proof building, 50 miles from the epicenter of the Loma Prieta 7.1. The windows on one side of the building imploded showering everyone with glass, the sprinklers came on pouring water over everything, the power went out, so the chemical fumes that were being removed by the shut-down exhaust fans started to fill the building. During the rolling of the building people crawled out on hands and knees through the water and glass and fumes. The building was permanently damaged - the frame was somehow twisted.

The 7.1 caused the building codes and response plans in California to be changed to handle that - some minimal shear bracing and foundation bolts were added to buildings and bridges reinforced but not redesigned or rebuilt. There is overwhelming complacency. There will be an 8 plus on the San Andreas fault. We just don't know when.

 

[notebook.fix]

Wow..interesting to read your post...on to the latest news...they are now saying that that nuclear plant #1 is in higher danger of radiation leaks...the cooling system has failed completely & they cannot cool down the core! This really ads another dynamic to this already disastrous situation...to have a NUclear accident on top of all this is inconceivably catastrophic -has not happened yet--let's pray it doesn't.

My family is visiting Northern Honshu and Tokyo now, and they have survived, they are going to sleep outside tonight in a car. But we don't know about relatives who live in Sendai City.

Yes, the buildings and social organization of Japan have changed so much over the last 50 years to withstand and respond to earthquakes. Being up in a Tokyo high rise that's swaying and creaking like crazy in even a small quake is still just terrifying. After living 7 years in Japan, I felt relatively safe there.

However, I spent the last many years in the SF Bay Area, and experienced the 1989, 7.1 Loma Prieta Quake. It's hard to imagine what happens for real because it is so far outside everyday experience. In 1989 in our company' R&D labs were in a brand-new earthquake-proof building, 50 miles from the epicenter of the Loma Prieta 7.1. The windows on one side of the building imploded showering everyone with glass, the sprinklers came on pouring water over everything, the power went out, so the chemical fumes that were being removed by the shut-down exhaust fans started to fill the building. During the rolling of the building people crawled out on hands and knees through the water and glass and fumes. The building was permanently damaged - the frame was somehow twisted.

The 7.1 caused the building codes and response plans in California to be changed to handle that - some minimal shear bracing and foundation bolts were added to buildings and bridges reinforced but not redesigned or rebuilt. There is overwhelming complacency. There will be an 8 plus on the San Andreas fault. We just don't know when.

 

[perry]

The latest news is that are 100s of thousands are missing and whole towns and smaller cities completely destroyed. This is Japans worst earthquake ever recorded in its scope and intensity .

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...thquake-tsunami-Fears-massive-death-toll.html

The last years we have seen similar earthquakes that are unprecedented and in all in a relatively short time frame.

 

[pauper]

The last years we have seen similar earthquakes that are unprecedented and in all in a relatively short time frame.

They are unprecedented neither in terms of magnitude nor in terms of casualties, are you referring to media coverage?