# 8.9 quake kills hundreds in Japan



## keeperofthegood (Apr 30, 2008)

This is un-real. I have friend in Japan. I so hope they are ok. Just reading this, it boggles my mind that anything more than a few would have survived:



> The city of 1 million was struck by a wave 20 feet high, then another 33 feet high. A hotel collapsed and large ships in port were seen lying on their sides.



That would also be for our folks in British Columbia too!!



> Nearby islands are bracing for the tsunami and warnings have been issued for 53 countries including ones as far as Colombia and Peru.



No matter what people may squabble about. Copyrights, body cavity searches, people smuggling, CHARLIE... all that pales and becomes utterly unimportant in the face of this:


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## sgiven (Jul 31, 2007)

keeperofthegood said:


> it boggles my mind that anything more than a few would have survived:


From what I understand, most were able to evacuate.


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## ezcomes (Jul 28, 2008)

i have friends in New Zealand...the Tsunami is expected to hit there soon...

but check this out...insane...

[youtube]SDp5tHmC2bk[/youtube]


they said on the radio this morning that one of the Japanese Nuclear power plants was over heating with no way to cool it...not much in the official news about it though...just that 6 of their plants have been shut down


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## Ti-Ron (Mar 21, 2007)

That is seriously insane! Hope people getting safe in time!


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## cheezyridr (Jun 8, 2009)

my wife's parents live in osaka. i don't think she knows about this yet. they're like, 80 or something. i hope they're ok.


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## keeperofthegood (Apr 30, 2008)

I do not know who has power or communications in Japan, probably better the farther from the epicenter you go. Still, lots of areas are out, or probably going to be signal jammed with concerned relatives.

Disaster Alert: Earthquake in Japan, Tsunami Warnings « American Red Cross Disaster Newsroom

Because these links can stale fast at these times, here is the text of the link:

*Disaster Alert: Earthquake in Japan, Tsunami Warnings*

*Disaster Alert*​ *Update 9:30 AM* – At this time the Red Cross in unable to accept inquiries to contact or locate family and friends in Japan. However, there are several resources available as follows.
Inquiries concerning U.S. citizens living or traveling in Japan should be referred to the U.S. Department of State, Office of Overseas Citizens Services at *1-888-407-4747* or *202 647-5225*.
For inquiries about relatives living in Japan who are not US citizens, encourage the members of your community to keep calling or to try contacting other family members who live in the region. Even though communication networks overloaded right now, the situation may change and access to mobile networks and the internet may improve.
The Google Person Finder site is available at: Google Person Finder: 2011 Japan Earthquake
*Japan* – A series of major earthquakes struck off the coast of Japan at around 2:46 pm JST on March 11. One of the earthquakes measured 8.9 in magnitude. Tsunami warnings, watches, and advisories are in effect in multiple locations.
The Hawaii Red Cross is supporting tsunami warning and potential evacuation efforts. Follow their latest messages on Twitter. 
More news will be posted as it is made available.
Earthquake List for Map of Asia Region
Pacific Tsunami Warning Center (NOAA)
Hawaii State Civil Defense site for Evacuation centers statewide
Details on 8.9 quake from USGS: 
Magnitude *8.9* Date-Time 

*Friday, March 11, 2011 at 05:46:23 UTC*
Friday, March 11, 2011 at 02:46:23 PM at epicenter
Time of Earthquake in other Time Zones
 Location 38.322°N, 142.369°E Depth 24.4 km (15.2 miles) set by location program Region NEAR THE EAST COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN Distances 130 km (80 miles) E of *Sendai, Honshu, Japan*178 km (110 miles) E of *Yamagata, Honshu, Japan*178 km (110 miles) ENE of *Fukushima, Honshu, Japan*373 km (231 miles) NE of *TOKYO, Japan* Location Uncertainty horizontal +/- 13.5 km (8.4 miles); depth fixed by location program Parameters NST=350, Nph=351, Dmin=416.3 km, Rmss=1.46 sec, Gp= 29°,M-type=”moment” magnitude from initial P wave (tsuboi method) (Mi/Mwp), Version=A Source 

USGS NEIC (WDCS-D)
 Event ID usc0001xgp


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## keeperofthegood (Apr 30, 2008)

Oops....................


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## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

The fact that the most destructive aspects of the quake were the tsunamis created, means that there is probably more to fear from those waves carrying cars, boats and buildings as "debris", than from unstable buildings. From what I understand, there was a boat of some kind with over a hundred people on board that was swept out to sea. And watching those TV images, you have to wonder about folks sitting in their car somewhere getting swept away.


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## ILIKEDRUMZZZ (Jan 4, 2011)

The World ending in 2012 seems more believable then ever after all these weather and earthquake happenings


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## Milkman (Feb 2, 2006)

Looks pretty bad. I work for a Japanese company so it's been the hot topic this morning. Our plant is on the west side of Honshu so we weren't directly impacted. We're assessing our supply base now.

I have buddies in Tokyo, Osaka, Kobe and in Utsunomiya. I'm afraid the toll will continue to rise.


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## Robert1950 (Jan 21, 2006)

Would like to hear from our Canuck in Japan - Sneaky Pete.


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## Starbuck (Jun 15, 2007)

ILIKEDRUMZZZ said:


> The World ending in 2012 seems more believable then ever after all these weather and earthquake happenings


Belive it or not, there's an app for that. Earthquakes happen all the time, but not of this magnitude.


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## discomalaria (Feb 17, 2010)

Starbuck said:


> Belive it or not, there's an app for that. Earthquakes happen all the time, but not of this magnitude.


I imagine we'll be seeing more and more major events like this. The more we lose our polar ice caps and glaciers (which are both melting at increasing rates) the less pressure they exert on the surface of the earth, the less pressure means that the continents will resettle onto the mantle (since they are just basically floating on the mantle), continental movement on the mantle can cause earthquakes, etc. That's the theory at least.


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## Starbuck (Jun 15, 2007)

Robert1950 said:


> Would like to hear from our Canuck in Japan - Sneaky Pete.


No kidding! Holy Crap hope Pete's ok!


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## cheezyridr (Jun 8, 2009)

my wife's folks are ok, i'm pretty relieved!


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## Milkman (Feb 2, 2006)

A buddy of mine was flying in to Narita and was diverted to Hokkaido, where he is currently stranded. He's luck I suppose. Three major quakes in one day.

Tough day for Honshu


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## Hoy' (Jun 2, 2010)

Here's a link to a page that shows a map of global seismic activity for those interested -> http://www.iris.edu/seismon/ 
Used to have this on a monitor in one of the hallways at school. Right now Japan is covered by a big red dot

discomalaria, I don't want to start an argument with you, but some of that doesn't really make sense to me. True, earthquakes are caused by movement of the continental plates, but not sure if I agree with the rest of that. The continental plates are constantly moving regardless of the ice caps. I don't think melting of the caps will change anything in that regard. It might have an effect on other things (such as oceanic currents), but I don't know if it'll do anything to plate movement. If there is a paper or something where you read that, I'd be interested in reading it.


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## torndownunit (May 14, 2006)

The latest news I heard is that they are having some major issues with their nuclear power reactors. Basically, the 'failsafes' failing on 2 of them.


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## cheezyridr (Jun 8, 2009)

discomalaria said:


> I imagine we'll be seeing more and more major events like this. The more we lose our polar ice caps and glaciers (which are both melting at increasing rates) the less pressure they exert on the surface of the earth, the less pressure means that the continents will resettle onto the mantle (since they are just basically floating on the mantle), continental movement on the mantle can cause earthquakes, etc. That's the theory at least.


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## keeperofthegood (Apr 30, 2008)

I have heard from my friend K3:



> Hello,
> 
> Thank you for your concern. This earthquake occurred at a distance area
> from here. So I and my familly are ok now.
> ...




As to the rest of the DOOM OF THE WORLD well; this planet has been having bad hiccups for millions of years. Some have been quite catastrophic. Capturing the moon was a big geo event, and so was the meteoric devastation of the dinosaurs (though I think the impact was less and the dust cloud more so, willing to bet that dust was simply toxic to the dino's). Currently mankind has become a source of impact on the global geology and one that is on a lot of peoples personal radars. There have been land mass studies that have shown the orbit of the planet has been impacted simply because of how we have moved the surface mass about on the planet in our quest to dig out metals and then build cities. From that point of view, the shift in ice mass is an important consideration. However, so is the de-stressing of the crust by harvesting oil and then the stressing of the crust by deep earth waste water/carbon elimination (NY has thousands of mini earthquakes a year due to this). What this all means is not a heck of a lot really. The amounts of actual global change are small, and the long term impacts are also small. Yes, we may wind up doing something that does cause winds to change, rain fall to stop, or seas to rise up ... and these things have happened many times in the past. We may end up like the Egyptians or the Anasazi and packing out bags to go to where the rain still falls and trees still bare fruit.  But the planet isn't done for yet it will continue on for a few more billion years till the sun explodes a little bit.

*IN THE MEAN TIME! I am happy my friend is OK, I hope the best for all my friends, and their loved ones. *


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## sneakypete (Feb 2, 2006)

I`m in Sendai and the city was not hit by a tidal wave...too far from the coast...at least not 1 million of the population. We`re close to the downtown area and there was minimal damage for the most part, the hardest hit areas were outside the city of Sendai...we got rocked like a mofo though, hardest I`ve been shaken since coming here, really started to worry the building I was in was going to make it but it did, as did our place though things were thrown all over, some guitars went on quite a ride but so far I have`t found any broken or damaged guitars but it really isn`t bothering me, what is on our minds are my sister in law`s parents who are still missing...their village is gone now, it ain`t there any more so we`re hoping they somehow made it to safe ground and have just been unable to get in touch, phones are still not working though we got power and water back today though no gas but we`re using my brother in laws gas cooker he used for camping, so I made a curry tonight. After shocks have not stopped, they are regular and some have been quite powerful in their own right.
But it`s quite eerie downtown, lots of folks around...waiting in line for food `n stuff but...they`re real quiet, very subdued almost like everybody is in shock, same thing yesterday right after the quake when everyone came out of their places of work, like they didn`t know what to do or where to go. Anyways, because of the part of the city we live in, we got power back late this afternoon maybe `cause we live next to the commercial area and perhaps the city wanted people to be able buy stuff so they made this area a priority but all around us people are still in the dark. We are very fortunate, to be here, to have power and to be breathing. 
Thanks for thinking of us over here, now if they could just get that reactor under control...


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## Milkman (Feb 2, 2006)

Pete thanks so much for the report. Glad you weren't injured in the shake. I have buddies and associates in various locations on Honshu and have been there a couple of times. This is tragic and is still unfolding of course. In countries less organized and prepared than Japan this would have been much, much worse in terms of loss of life.

Unfortunately we still have no idea on how many people and animals were lost. In Miyagi Prefecture alone there were still 9500 people missing according to CNN.

Unbelievable. 

So far all of my people are uninjured and nobody seems to be missing.

I was planning for a trip over there in April but that will probably be delayed now.

I sure hope your missing relatives turn up AOK.


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## keeperofthegood (Apr 30, 2008)

Good to hear from you Pete! I am sorry to hear about your sister in law's parents, hope they got out ok. I understand there was some evacuation before it struck or is that just rumor? There is a link up top a bit where you can also see the last 30 days record and Honshu has dozens and dozens of 4.5's and up since the start of this. 

Cheesy have you been able to find out about your wife's family yet?

IRIS Seismic Monitor

IRIS Seismic Monitor - 30 Recent Earthquakes

Tokyo may be glowing by week's end that reactor situation does not look good. Chernobyl memories are not forgotten.



Milkman said:


> I was planning for a trip over there in April but that will probably be delayed now.


Good to hear that your company and friends are good!! I lost friends in 911, and entire companies lost their staff and those were friends of other friends of mine at the time. The scale of this is just HUGE and on that scale, so many tragedies can be just that much bigger. 

http://www.delta.com/traveling_checkin/flight_status_updates/index.jsp



> *This Just In*
> 
> 
> *Advisory*: Earthquake in Japan
> ...


There may be delays, or routing troubles but Delta at least isn't suspending flights at this time. If one or both of those reactors go super critical that could change.


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## Milkman (Feb 2, 2006)

To look at this from another perspective. There are indications from GPS measuring devices that the main island, Honshu, MOVED 8 FEET, and that the earth shifted on its axis.

Should I get my tinfoil hat or is this true?

This was big.


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## keeperofthegood (Apr 30, 2008)

Milkman said:


> To look at this from another perspective. There are indications from GPS measuring devices that the main island, Honshu, MOVED 8 FEET, and that the earth shifted on its axis.
> 
> Should I get my tinfoil hat or is this true?
> 
> This was big.


https://profile.usgs.gov/hudnut/

That is the person being pointed at for saying this. Doing more google though is not listing anything with a government URL supporting the statements. However, Haiti did move the Earth and I would not doubt that this one did too. I am just not sure where the story on Honshu at this time comes from.


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## cheezyridr (Jun 8, 2009)

keeperofthegood said:


> Cheesy have you been able to find out about your wife's family yet?


 her parents and her sister, and her sister's kids are ok, but we don't know about her sister's husband. he was in tokyo when it happened. because of the time difference, i'll probably know something tonight.


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## GuitarsCanada (Dec 30, 2005)

This thing is getting uglier by the day.


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## Steadfastly (Nov 14, 2008)

The earthquake has now been upgraded to a 9.0 magnitude with 10,000 people feared dead. We have many friends there and I expect it will be weeks before we find out about everyone. I feel very fortunate to live where I do but I feel so sorry for those poor people. No doubt millions of lives will be affected.


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## GuitarsCanada (Dec 30, 2005)

FlipFlopFly said:


> The earthquake has now been upgraded to a 9.0 magnitude with 10,000 people feared dead. We have many friends there and I expect it will be weeks before we find out about everyone. I feel very fortunate to live where I do but I feel so sorry for those poor people. No doubt millions of lives will be affected.


The major concern right now is they have two nuclear reactors that are heading for meltdown and it appears there is not much they can do to stop them. Epic proportions of misery and death should these get out of control. Nuclear power can be so great in many ways but the problem with it is when the genie gets out of the bottle it is impossible to get it back in.


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## Steadfastly (Nov 14, 2008)

GuitarsCanada said:


> The major concern right now is they have two nuclear reactors that are heading for meltdown and it appears there is not much they can do to stop them. Epic proportions of misery and death should these get out of control. Nuclear power can be so great in many ways but the problem with it is when the genie gets out of the bottle it is impossible to get it back in.


You're right, once you get that fire lit, it's almost impossible to put it out. That's the problem with nuclear energy. We know how to get it going but we don't know how to stop it once it starts, we can only keep it cool but when cooling systems break down, that's when troubles start. Of course, the other problem is that we don't know how to safely dispose of it.


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## GuitarsCanada (Dec 30, 2005)

These people are going to need a lot of help. Going to be a very long road back.

Canadian Red Cross Donations for Japan


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## keeperofthegood (Apr 30, 2008)

The reports from Japan the last couple hours are still tense. While one reactor is under control with one generator pumping circulating cooling water, there are hydrogen build up issues there. The other is now being flooded with sea water. In one breath the LA Times says that this is a very corrosive solution where-in the reactors will never be used again as reactors, they don't go on to say that this very corrosive nature may result in more failure to the cooling system as that system is eaten away. It too has hydrogen build up problems too. So, several ways in which this may yet go folks. 

Japan earthquake: Reactor cooled with seawater to avert meltdown after earthquake - latimes.com


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## sneakypete (Feb 2, 2006)

few pics I took around town and at home...


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## sneakypete (Feb 2, 2006)




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## sneakypete (Feb 2, 2006)

my cashews made it...


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## GuitarsCanada (Dec 30, 2005)

sneakypete said:


>


Thats not too bad. Looks like my room and we never had any earthquake here


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## Mooh (Mar 7, 2007)

Before and after images here: ABC News - Japan Earthquake: before and after

The mind boggles. The heart aches. Words fail.

I'm impressed at the speed of response from other nations, even those with little ability, and those with historical differences. The tv news has played almost nonstop all weekend here, I can't look away, but what can we do beyond donations and prayers?

Peace, Mooh.


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## Alex Csank (Jul 22, 2010)

I sure am glad you're OK 'Sneaky'!! It looks like your collection didn't suffer TOO badly. Is there any other damage to your home or property? I sure hope that your friends and family areall OK! What a tragedy!


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## discomalaria (Feb 17, 2010)

Hoy' said:


> Here's a link to a page that shows a map of global seismic activity for those interested -> http://www.iris.edu/seismon/
> Used to have this on a monitor in one of the hallways at school. Right now Japan is covered by a big red dot
> 
> discomalaria, I don't want to start an argument with you, but some of that doesn't really make sense to me. True, earthquakes are caused by movement of the continental plates, but not sure if I agree with the rest of that. The continental plates are constantly moving regardless of the ice caps. I don't think melting of the caps will change anything in that regard. It might have an effect on other things (such as oceanic currents), but I don't know if it'll do anything to plate movement. If there is a paper or something where you read that, I'd be interested in reading it.


Here's somebody who explains it better than me (with the maths): sealevelandtectonicactivity - carnael

There was another more "proper" paper I was reading a while back, but at the moment google is filled with postings from environmentalist blogs so I can't seem to find it. I'll post it when I do.


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## keeperofthegood (Apr 30, 2008)

Japan braced for earthquake aftershocks - News Network - Inside Japan

The knock-on effects of the Sendai earthquake continued today (March 14th), as Japan readies itself for a major aftershock, which could measure up to 7.0 on the Richter scale.​

Sneaky man that is a jumbled mess!!!! Glad to know that is all that was!!

Today's news looks grim, as it is being reported live survivors are no longer being found. Those ABC side-by-side shots are UGLY! Right now there is a shortage of foods and supplies, next will come the realization that all those farms and farmlands that have been scrubbed with salt water will lead to even more longer term food shortages. 

Odd for me to say (well, I have a 9 and 12 year old so maybe not that odd) but; it is a relief that Satoshi Tajiri (Pokemon), Yuko Yamaguchi (Hello Kitty), Alive After Japan Earthquake 2011 are alive!!


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## cheezyridr (Jun 8, 2009)

how about this guy? all the stuff going on there, and he still somehow has the energy to rescue a dolphin:
Porpoise rescued from field after Japan tsunami - ABC News (Australian... - StumbleUpon


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