Breaking News: Massive Earthquake, Tsunami Hit Japan
The Logo ·
Mar 11, 2011 at 12:24am
8.9 magnitude earthquake hit Japan at 2:46 pm local time, 231 miles north of Tokyo. 13 foot tsunami followed. Casualties unknown.
Tsunami warnings across the Pacific; Hawaii braces for tsunami at 3:00 am local time.
Prayers to the people of Japan, including outstripp.
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Dec '10
Re: Breaking News: Massive Earthquake, Tsunami Hit Japan
Big, big news. All over the 24/7 cable news channels.
Tsunami warnings in Hawaii and on the West Coast.
Jan '11
Re: Breaking News: Massive Earthquake, Tsunami Hit Japan
That video is unreal. At first I couldn't make out the scale of the objects carried by the water, but after it reaches the elevated roadway it becomes clear. Many cars and even entire industrial buildings/sheds. There were very clearly some people on the road near the trucks. They had nowhere to go. The TV station put a graphic over that corner of the video, probably fearing the inevitable. My heart goes out to everyone in Japan... and now we wait to see how other areas will be affected. It should be hitting Hawaii very soon.
Re: Breaking News: Massive Earthquake, Tsunami Hit Japan
I feel ashamed when things like this happen that I've been wasting my time grousing about Paul Krugman or the Times' piece on Chris Christie or how impossible it is to keep my house clean. Puts things in perspective, fast.
Extra prayers are in order.
Oct '10
Re: Breaking News: Massive Earthquake, Tsunami Hit Japan
I feel sick. My brother is serving a religious mission there as is his best friend, who is also considered family. Nowhere near northern Japan, but still.
Jan '11
Re: Breaking News: Massive Earthquake, Tsunami Hit Japan
My brother's family is in Tokyo, with three school-age girls, and, in a sign of the times, were updating each other (and all of us) as to their whereabouts via Facebook. All are well.
Jun '10
Re: Breaking News: Massive Earthquake, Tsunami Hit Japan
Here's one live video feed link that alternates from Japanese to English:
http://delicast.com/tv/Japan/NHK_World
Looking for others.
Re: Breaking News: Massive Earthquake, Tsunami Hit Japan
I feel sick too. There was a sweet Japanese kid at the check-in counter on my flight to Tel Aviv. Security was giving him a hard time. He didn't speak English or Turkish, so he couldn't answer the basic questions about whether he'd packed his bags himself.
After I went through customs, I saw this news. I looked all over for him in the departure lounge and on the flight but I didn't see him. I'm guessing he heard the news about when I did. I don't know how you could get on a flight, without phone or Internet access, in between hearing about a quake that size and knowing that your family is okay.
He probably didn't get on the flight.
May '10
Re: Breaking News: Massive Earthquake, Tsunami Hit Japan
It is one of those things that happens to remind us to keep life in perspective.
Sep '10
Re: Breaking News: Massive Earthquake, Tsunami Hit Japan
Yes. Its humbling.
Jul '10
Re: Breaking News: Massive Earthquake, Tsunami Hit Japan
Are all the Ricocheteers in San Francisco, the Bay Area and other parts of the Pacific Coast ready for the incoming tsunami? Please keep us informed of your condition as best you can.
Jan '11
Re: Breaking News: Massive Earthquake, Tsunami Hit Japan
It certainly does keep things in perspective. I posted about this on Facebook when I heard about it, having just posted one of those silly "viral marketing" links in hopes of winning an iPad. I doubt my friends cared that I posted gadget-seeking spam just before a post about people's lives and livelihood behing lost, but being reminded that Terrible Things are happening in the world always makes me feel petty for sharing anything less than serious.
I was watching live when the first waves hit Hawaii (live video here), but it sounds like the damage there is minor at this point. Still, I'm glad precautions were taken and that they had several hours notice.
Jun '10
Re: Breaking News: Massive Earthquake, Tsunami Hit Japan
Some reports say that the tsunami surge in Japan went as far as ten miles inland. If accurate that's amazing. To put it in some sort of perspective, if Los Angeles were on fairly flat ground at sea level and didn't have the cliffs and some of the natural barriers around Santa Monica then just about all the real estate 2 miles or so short of downtown would be flooded - Santa Monica, Culver City, Torrance, Westwood, Century City, Beverly Hills...all would incur water damage.
What's interesting to note is that near LAX and Marina del Rey there are no significant barriers to hold back a tsunami surge the height (33ft.) that's been reported in Japan. The runways at LAX and Marina del Rey would very likely be underwater.
May '10
Re: Breaking News: Massive Earthquake, Tsunami Hit Japan
Humza, you live in Japan as well, don't you?
As bad as this is, I'm glad Japan was better prepared for it than the people struck by that 2005 tsunami.
Jul '10
Re: Breaking News: Massive Earthquake, Tsunami Hit Japan
Aaron, I live in NY now, but I do appreciate your concern. I've checked in with all my friends and, thank God, they are all safe. Some have to camp out at their offices tonight as nearly all the train lines in Tokyo have been shut down, and just about everyone's apartment is a total mess. If anyone knows servicemen in Japan, information on how our troops are doing would be much appreciated.
You're right, the Japanese are much better off in terms or preparedness, emergency funds availability, and emergency situation training and education than any of the countries hit in the Indonesian tsunami.
Dec '10
Re: Breaking News: Massive Earthquake, Tsunami Hit Japan
The tsunami risk to the USA is over - reports are there was a small tsunami in Hawaii that caused no significant damage, and no tsunami reported here on the West Coast.
Dec '10
Re: Breaking News: Massive Earthquake, Tsunami Hit Japan
The destruction in Japan is, from all reports, widespread and horrific. Prayers for rescue, recovery and healing:
"Police said 200 to 300 bodies were found in the northeastern coastal city of Sendai, the city in Miyagi prefecture, or state, closest to the epicenter. Another 137 were confirmed killed, with 531 people missing. Police also said 627 people were injured.
"The magnitude-8.9 offshore quake unleashed a 23-foot (seven-meter) tsunami and was followed for hours by more than 50 aftershocks, many of them of more than magnitude 6.0.
"Dozens of cities and villages along a 1,300-mile (2,100-kilometer) stretch of coastline were shaken by violent tremors that reached as far away as Tokyo, hundreds of miles (kilometers) from the epicenter. A large section of Kesennuma, a town of 70,000 people in Miyagi, burned furiously into the night with no apparent hope of being extinguished, public broadcaster NHK said."
Jun '10
Re: Breaking News: Massive Earthquake, Tsunami Hit Japan
The tsunami is tragic for japan, but I want to suggest a lightly different perspective without, I hope, diminishing the very real concerns surrounding the tragedy in Japan.
After I heard about the tsunami, I was concerned about the loudly reported threat to Hawaii and the west (left?) coast, The tsunami was estimated to hit Hawaii between 9:00 and 9:30 EST. I checked the news at about 10 am EST for what happened to Hawaii. It was tough finding anything. The news was all about ringing the alarm for the West coast of the continental US.
Finally I found a report about Hawaii. By the time it reached Hawaii, the tsunami was a 3 foot wave that no self-respecting surfer would have caught. Nevertheless, the government folk kept sounding the alarm for the west coast, while ignoring the lack of damage in Hawaii.
I guess they were simply giving themselves the illusion of relevance.
Dec '10
Re: Breaking News: Massive Earthquake, Tsunami Hit Japan
David Carroll:
Finally I found a report about Hawaii. By the time it reached Hawaii, the tsunami was a 3 foot wave that no self-respecting surfer would have caught. Nevertheless, the government folk kept sounding the alarm for the west coast, while ignoring the lack of damage in Hawaii.
I guess they were simply giving themselves the illusion of relevance. · Mar 11 at 10:24am
Associated Press reports that the tsunami at Kealkakua Bay on the Big Island was 11 feet and reached the lobby of a hotel.
Further, no one understands fully how tsunami energy is distributed over an ocean and where it will come to a local focus where the amplitude is magnified by local topography. If you look at the devastation caused by the Boxing Day tsunami, it bypassed some areas of the Indian Ocean on its way to annihilating more distant locales.
Jun '10
Re: Breaking News: Massive Earthquake, Tsunami Hit Japan
Stuart Creque: The destruction in Japan is, from all reports, widespread and horrific. Prayers for rescue, recovery and healing:
"Police said 200 to 300 bodies were found in the northeastern coastal city of Sendai, the city in Miyagi prefecture, or state, closest to the epicenter. Another 137 were confirmed killed, with 531 people missing. Police also said 627 people were injured.
"The magnitude-8.9 offshore quake unleashed a 23-foot (seven-meter) tsunami and was followed for hours by more than 50 aftershocks, many of them of more than magnitude 6.0. · Mar 11 at 9:45am
We should be prepared to hear that thousands have lost their lives. Several ships have overturned or have sunk. Many buildings have toppled and pancaked and the area will continue to be hit by aftershocks in the next several days. There was even a report that an entire train is missing. Tomorrow's video coverage will be more extensive and reveal the extent of the damage.
Dec '10
Re: Breaking News: Massive Earthquake, Tsunami Hit Japan
We now have reports of damage to fishing boat docks and harbors in Santa Cruz and Fort Bragg in California. That may not seem like much, but it's very bad for the local economies in both areas.
Also, a group of three spectators near Eureka, CA, were caught by a wave bigger than they anticipated and were swept offshore. Two were rescued, but one died.
Here is a bizarre thought: was the mass fish kill in Southern California three days ago related at all to the Ring of Fire activity that spurred the Japan earthquake and tsunami?