Tsunami hits north-eastern Japan after massive quake

shrek · **Posted:** Fri Mar 11, 2011 4:43 am

Tsunami hits north-eastern Japan after massive quake

BBC reports

A massive earthquake has hit the north-east of Japan, triggering a tsunami that has caused extensive damage.

Quote:

Japanese television showed cars, ships and even buildings being swept away by a vast wall of water after the 8.9 magnitude earthquake.

The quake has sparked fires in several areas including Tokyo, and numerous casualties are feared.

It struck about 250 miles (400km) from the capital at a depth of 20 miles. There have been powerful aftershocks.

The tremor at 1446 local time (0546 GMT). Seismologists say it is one of the largest earthquakes to hit Japan for many years.

The tsunami warning was extended to the Philippines, Indonesia, Taiwan, the Pacific coast of Russia and Hawaii.

This one looks like its pretty awful. Stay safe anyone in the way of the Tsunami. Reports say it will reach as far as Chile.

bob · **Posted:** Fri Mar 11, 2011 5:26 am

Tsunami warning issued for Hawaii, Pacific

Quote:

The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center in Hawaii has widened its tsunami [highlight]warning[/highlight] to include Hawaii and the rest of the Pacific Ocean, while a [highlight]watch[/highlight] notice was issued for west coast of the U.S.

[...]

It says the estimated earliest arrival in Hawaii of the first tsunami wave is [highlight]2:59 a.m. local time time Friday (7:59 a.m. ET)[/highlight].

[...]

A tsunami watch was also issued for the coasts of Oregon, Washington and California as well as parts of Alaska, The Oregonian newspaper reported. The paper said any wave which reached the coast could hit just before 7:30 a.m. local time Friday.

The warning also includes Australia, New Zealand, Mexico and Central and South America. The coast of North America is not included in the warning.

Tsunami warnings are issued due to the imminent threat of a tsunami.

West Coast/Alaksa Tsunami Warning Center (U.S. mainland, Alaska)
Pacific Tsunami Warning Center (Pacific rim; Pacific island states, including Hawaii)

Foggy · **Posted:** Fri Mar 11, 2011 7:15 am

Yipes! I hope our Hawaiians and our Left Coasters are safe!

Looks like it will all be over by noon my time ... but until then, head for the high ground!

MsDaisy · **Posted:** Fri Mar 11, 2011 7:44 am

WOW 8.9! I use to live in Japan, about 20 miles north of Tokyo and we had earthquakes all the time, but usually just little 2’s or 3’s. Once we had a 6.1 and that scared the piss out of me. I can’t imagine an 8.9.

Ozzie · **Posted:** Fri Mar 11, 2011 8:03 am

Some of the footage of the tsunami is incredible - what looks like bits of debris floating along turns out to be buses and cars...

This could be the most dangerous aspect of the disaster:

Quote:

Japan Declares Nuclear Emergency, As Cooling System Fails At Power Plant

Thinking positive for Japan...

[-o<

Foggy · **Posted:** Fri Mar 11, 2011 8:21 am

Ozzie wrote:

Some of the footage of the tsunami is incredible ...

No kidding! I'm seeing entire buildings floating away!

Quote:

Japan Declares Nuclear Emergency, As Cooling System Fails At Power Plant

Holy Ned!

The guy I'm listening to in Tokyo has lived there 8 years, and never felt anything like this ... and Tokyo was 230 miles from the epicenter!

kimba · **Joined:** Tue Sep 08, 2009 3:24 pm **Posts:** 6635

CNN reports in Waikiki, the people staying hotels are being moved to the 6th floor or higher and residents are being asked to move 1/2 mile inland. Someone better go to the DOH and get Obama's original records before the vault floods!

mimi · **Posted:** Fri Mar 11, 2011 9:32 am

There's a live feed from KHON in Hawaii that I can't get to work.

http://www.khon2.com/content/mediacente ... navCatId=4

NYT The Lede:
http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/0 ... /?src=tptw

That power plant situation is scary.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/42025478

kimba · **Joined:** Tue Sep 08, 2009 3:24 pm **Posts:** 6635

Here's another feed from Hawaii:

http://www.hawaiinewsnow.com/Global/category.asp?C=176904&nav=menu55_1_1

First wave was fairly small. But on alert for larger later waves.

Edit: Wow! The water is really receding as of 8:39 Eastern. People are there. Didn't everyone learn from Phuket that when you see the water recede you should run for your life?

Mikedunford · **Posted:** Fri Mar 11, 2011 9:46 am

Foggy wrote:

Holy Ned!

The guy I'm listening to in Tokyo has lived there 8 years, and never felt anything like this ... and Tokyo was 230 miles from the epicenter!

The Richter Scale and it's variants are log scales. Each 1.0 increase on the scale represents an order of magnitude more energy. To put that in perspective, it would take

about 43 kilotons of TNT to produce the amount of shaking seen in the recent Christchurch earthquake.
about half a megaton for the Haiti quake.
300 megatons for today's quake.

With earthquakes of this size, the final magnitude determination is frequently different from initial estimates. It's not at all uncommon for the initial estimates to be on the low size.

MsDaisy · **Posted:** Fri Mar 11, 2011 9:50 am

Ho-Lee Chit! :shock:

This video shows a giant whirlpool created by the quake. I can't figure out how to embed the video so here's a link

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldne ... lpool.html

TollandRCR · **Posted:** Fri Mar 11, 2011 10:06 am

The tremors lasted for what seems to be an unusually long time. This video captures some of that
http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/world/2011/03/11/von.quake.meeting.avn?hpt=C2.

Most of the deaths and much of the damage so far have been caused by the tsunamis (several waves) rather than directly by the tremors.

Mikedunford · **Posted:** Fri Mar 11, 2011 10:10 am

TollandRCR wrote:

The tremors lasted for what seems to be an unusually long time. This video captures some of that
http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/world/2011/03/11/von.quake.meeting.avn?hpt=C2.

Most of the deaths and much of the damage so far have been caused by the tsunamis (several waves) rather than directly by the tremors.

It's going to be a while before we know for sure if that's the case, I'm afraid. The earthquake-proofing in Japan is amazing, but IIRC the design standard is about a magnitude 7-7.5 type quake. Not an 8-9. Hopefully the engineers were very conservative in their estimates.

TollandRCR · **Posted:** Fri Mar 11, 2011 10:13 am

I believe that this Google Earth map shows today's massive earthquake and the numerous large aftershocks. It also show the chains of volcanoes extending south from Japan. The source is Rumor Mill News, so I am not completely confident that the map has been properly constructed.

Mikedunford · **Posted:** Fri Mar 11, 2011 10:20 am

The map is approximately correct, although already out of date. They're still getting multiple magnitude 5+ aftershocks per hour out there. They're already up to 9 aftershocks as strong as or stronger than the 22 Feb quake in New Zealand. I don't know how much of that is being felt inland, but there's still a lot of energy being released.

Maru · **Posted:** Fri Mar 11, 2011 10:50 am

Holy cow. We just watched a huge ship float past a farmhouse. Freaky.

Also freaky... my cats woke me up pretty much at the same time the earthquake hit there (I sleep with the tv on and as I opened my eyes they were doing the breaking news).

TollandRCR · **Posted:** Fri Mar 11, 2011 11:27 am

Over on the conspiracy theorists' side of the world, Benjamin Fulford is a rock star.

Quote:

Fulford - Next is the Madrid Fault Line
Special bulletin: Earthquake attack on Japan originated in New Mexico and Nevada, U.S. New Madrid fault line next target

The horrific earthquake weapon attack on Japan, resulting in 10 meter tsunamis along much of Japan’s coast line came from rogue elements of the U.S. government located in underground bases in New Mexico and Nevada, according to pentagon and CIA sources.

The next target will be the New Madrid fault line in the South-Western United States, according to threats originating from the Nazi George Bush Senior faction of the U.S. government.

The United States is supposed to be an ally of Japan, we demand that you immediately send men with tanks and guns to take these bases and arrest these genocidal rogues. You know who they are and you know where they are, you must act or your own people will be next.

realist · **Joined:** Fri Jan 23, 2009 1:33 pm **Posts:** 23580

Quote:

by TollandRCR » Fri Mar 11, 2011 8:27 am
Over on the conspiracy theorists' side of the world, Benjamin Fulford is a rock star.

The crazy is strong in this one.

Highlands · **Posted:** Fri Mar 11, 2011 11:37 am

TollandRCR wrote:

Over on the conspiracy theorists' side of the world, Benjamin Fulford is a rock star.

If we could really do this, don't you think we'd have taken out Iran a long time ago, and not a country like Japan who is our ally? :roll:

mimi · **Posted:** Fri Mar 11, 2011 11:51 am

I read the BBC feed is superior for information on the Tsunami.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-12307698

Toro · **Posted:** Fri Mar 11, 2011 1:00 pm

My parents are in Maui in a condo on the ground floor across the street from the beach in Kihei. I have called several times but there is no answer. I assume they have evacuated. I have heard of problems in Kahului but have not heard of problems on the west side of the island.

Suranis · **Joined:** Sat Nov 20, 2010 8:04 am **Posts:** 5253

May God be with them all.

realist · **Joined:** Fri Jan 23, 2009 1:33 pm **Posts:** 23580

Toro wrote:

My parents are in Maui in a condo on the ground floor across the street from the beach in Kihei. I have called several times but there is no answer. I assume they have evacuated. I have heard of problems in Kahului but have not heard of problems on the west side of the island.

One of my best friends lives on Maui. I've tried to make contact since very early this morning... no response as of yet.

GreatGrey · **Posted:** Fri Mar 11, 2011 1:27 pm

mimi wrote:

I read the BBC feed is superior for information on the Tsunami.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-12307698

I'm in Santiago Chile, and the BBC IS better than CNN on this.

That is once you get past their promos for their Palin interview.

Epectitus · **Joined:** Fri Jan 23, 2009 3:55 pm **Posts:** 2361

TollandRCR wrote:

Over on the conspiracy theorists' side of the world, Benjamin Fulford is a rock star.

Quote:

Fulford -

The next target will be the New Madrid fault line in the South-Western United States, according to threats originating from the Nazi George Bush Senior faction of the U.S. government.

Uuuuuuhhh... the New Madrid Fault is not in the South West.

Falsehoods unchallenged only fester and grow.

Tsunami hits north-eastern Japan after massive quake

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