Japan Earthquake

Ippoippo · Post by **Ippoippo** » 11 Mar 2011, 16:02

biffvernon wrote:The number of big aftershocks is unprecedented:

http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/ ... 145_40.php

Yeah, I've had Japanese TV streamed over the net while sat in the office (gotta love have two monitors in my software dev setup).

I can't get over the amount of earthquake warnings regularly flashing up on the screen (it's an automated system, whenever there's an earthquake over a certain strength, theres a text overlay at the top of the screen and a little ping-pong noise).
Never seen anything like it during my three years there. Most I ever saw was 3 or 4 after the big-ish ones in Niigata area.

Ludwig · Post by **Ludwig** » 11 Mar 2011, 16:55

RalphW wrote:One report of 88,000 unaccounted for.

Given that the seaside town nearest the quake had 74,000 residents, I would not be surprised.

I was watching the aerial footage of the wave's progress earlier today - it was like watching water being hosed over a dirty yard. Very chastening to think of all the people who must have been drowning as you looked on.

Kieran · Post by **Kieran** » 11 Mar 2011, 18:17

There was an earthquake expert on radio 4 earlier talking about the huge earthquake that Japan has been expecting for 60 years and that todays quake wasn't it, but that it's now more likely to happen soon (south of Tokyo?).

Oh feck

madibe · Post by **madibe** » 11 Mar 2011, 18:34

I was watching the aerial footage of the wave's progress earlier today - it was like watching water being hosed over a dirty yard. Very chastening to think of all the people who must have been drowning as you looked on.

Drowning would be the good bit; unfortunately the water was carrying probably millions of tons of hard stuff such as lorries, cars, houses and containers... you name it, it was in the water. So chances are that the poor victims met a messy end by being crushed.

My heart goes out to them.

Kieran · Post by **Kieran** » 11 Mar 2011, 18:59

maudibe wrote:My heart goes out to them.

+1

Especially to the survivors who lost loved ones. Remember the British couple who lost their child in a tsunami in 2009? They are related by marriage to my father so I learned just what a terrifying ordeal it was. It really devastated their lives, and will no doubt haunt them for many years to come.

Post by **clv101** » 11 Mar 2011, 20:39

Two new quakes to the west now:

The 6.2 to the south is only 1km in depth.

biffvernon · Post by **biffvernon** » 11 Mar 2011, 21:26

Ippoippo wrote: This is also a pretty 'impressive' factoid
http://www.earth-issues.com/2011/03/the ... d-10-cm-2/

Somebody go and move the poles please.

Evacuation form 6 miles round nuke has been ordered. The problem evidently has not been solved.

biffvernon · Post by **biffvernon** » 11 Mar 2011, 22:59

Heavily insured means the bill comes to London. This is not Haiti.

Looking at google maps: http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=q&sourc ... 31&t=h&z=7

there seems to be a coastal strip of flat land from Sendai all the way south to Tokyo that had a pretty high density of housing interspersed with farmland. It's possible that the tsunami films we've seen show just a fragment of the destruction that extends for several tens of miles.

Mean Mr Mustard · Post by **Mean Mr Mustard** » 11 Mar 2011, 23:10

biffvernon wrote:Heavily insured means the bill comes to London. This is not Haiti.

Hope you're not a Lloyd's Name, eh, Biff.

Most policies have an ionising radiation exclusion..?

madibe · Post by **madibe** » 11 Mar 2011, 23:32

Hope you're not a Lloyd's Name, eh, Biff.

Hey, we will all pay for it... the average joe. Our insurance bills will skyrocket to cover it. Forget the names - they are only the tip of the 'berg.

UndercoverElephant · Post by **UndercoverElephant** » 12 Mar 2011, 02:39

http://www.ourfutureplanet.org/news/544 ... m-peak-oil

Wednesday 2 March 2011

[snip]

The greatest concern is that this time bomb could explode as early as 2015...

[snip]

The other big challenge related to nuclear is the issue of safety and risk, especially in an earthquake prone country like Japan...

What a difference ten days can make.

ziggy12345 · Post by **ziggy12345** » 12 Mar 2011, 07:46

TroubledTimes wrote:..will do to the nuclear industry what Deepwater Horizon did for deep sea drilling...

Delay it 6 months then carry on as normal?

biffvernon · Post by **biffvernon** » 12 Mar 2011, 07:51

Here's a nice interactive map to explore the aftershocks:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/42037498

(with nuke sites added!)

vtsnowedin · Post by **vtsnowedin** » 12 Mar 2011, 12:12

As Japan is the worlds third largest economy and globalization has tied every economy together this is a major blow to the worlds economy. Is this disaster ,as huge as it apparently is, a blow so severe that an already fragile world will tip over an edge concerning food, energy, and finances?
Everybody is pledging help but who can afford to give anything like what it will take to repair the damage and get Japan back on it's feet.

biffvernon · Post by **biffvernon** » 12 Mar 2011, 13:22

Just been watching TV from (I think) Sendai during a new aftershock. Whole city rocking back and forth, or possibly the camera tripod was rocking back and forth. They're saying it was about mag 6 and new tsunami warming issued.

edit: followed by two more within ten minutes.

I gather the Japanese have a numbering system that shows impact so the latest one is listed as M6.0 at epicentre out to sea and then they show a map with a 5 at the nearest coast and zones of 4,3,2 further away.

edit again: USGS have now listed the first of the three recent shocks at M6.4

There was a M6.8 and three other >6 shocks after 01.00 GMT this morning.

Here's a big list - there seems to be a maybe 20 minute delay on updating. http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/ ... es_big.php