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Japan hit by 9.0 earthquake.

Re: Japan hit by 8.9 earthquake.

Shit, a few minutes ago they just had a seperate 6.6 one in central japan near Nagano, that about 300 - 400 miles south on the 8.9. This one is closer to Tokyo but more on the west coast of Japan vs the north east coast from this morning.
 
Re: Japan hit by 8.9 earthquake.

Besides the damage they have already sustained because of the earthquake and the tsunami, they really need to cool down that nuclear reactor, and fast.

Horrific day. Again. These disasters just keep on coming as of late.

I'm glad to hear the TBBSers that live there are ok. :)
 
Re: Japan hit by 8.9 earthquake.

I continue to be stunned by the massive amounts of debris picked up by the tsunami. You have to know there are bodies in there. :( Thank God they were able to get that nuclear plants cooling system in order.
 
Re: Japan hit by 8.9 earthquake.

I thought I read somewhere that there are two reactors that need urgent cooling. There was talk of venting some radioactive gas to reduce pressure, as well as use of a "last resort" emergency coolant system in case they can't get electricity restored to the normal coolant system.

A meltdown would be a pretty scary addition to the chaos they are already having to deal with.
 
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Re: Japan hit by 8.9 earthquake.

Does anyone know how warning did the people of the area got? Did most people have time to evacuate? I thought that the first earthquake was on the 9th and that a tsunami warning was issued then.

I read that 200 bodies have been found at one beach. Is it possible that these were sightseers who ignore tsunami alerts?
 
Re: Japan hit by 8.9 earthquake.

Very, very good to know our Japan-based BBSers are okay. Ditto for relatives and friends of board members. I hope anyone with people they haven't heard from yet will hear good news very soon.

The tsunami footage is just horrifying. As someone has mentioned, if something like that had been in a movie it would probably have been dismissed as absurd - but it's appallingly real. :(

Goji said:
I am alive. My story is as follows.

I was at the elementary school where I work. It happened right between my last class for the day and the start of the clubs. So there were no groups of children anywhere doing anything structured, everyone was in the middle of a transition. Which means it was the worst possible time for an earthquake to happen. I was in the gym at the time just hanging out with the badminton and ping pong club members. We were on the stage when the quake struck, and I was the only teacher there, so I got everyone under the desk and we toughed it out. A lot of the folding chairs collapsed and some of the posters fell down. It was the biggest earthquake I have been in, but there was no serious damage.

We went outside to gather as a group and wait for the rest of the teachers, as they have practiced many times. I noticed then that while a lot of the kids thought it was cool and exciting, a number of the girls were seriously frightened and crying. The other teachers, when they showed up, were too busy doing head counts and checking to see where everyone had gone to worry about crying children, so I sat down near a group of girls who were upset and tried to reassure them. I managed to get almost all of them laughing, referencing things we'd done in class and doing my zombie impression that they can't get enough of.

Then the quake came back and was worse this time. Two girls in particular were just balling. I offered each one of my hands and they grabbed on as if for dear life, while their friends also tried to calm them down somewhat. It died down again, and we all just sat together, me trying to comfort a group of several dozen, at least, Japanese girls who had gathered around me during the quake. After the worst of the aftershocks finished I pulled out my iPod touch and showed them some of the goofier pictures of myself and my pets and my friends and got most of them giggling again. Their parents started showing up to take them home, and I hung out there for an hour longer than I am paid to work because I got the sense that if I were to leave, a number of the students would seriously lose their calm. One girl, as she was leaving with her mother, came up to me and told me that I had made her feel better, and gave me a hug, so that was heartwarming.
Click to expand...
All this from someone who used to assure us he was a no-hoper. You were brilliant, Goji. :bolian:
 
Re: Japan hit by 8.9 earthquake.

Miss Chicken said:
Does anyone know how warning did the people of the area got? Did most people have time to evacuate? I thought that the first earthquake was on the 9th and that a tsunami warning was issued then.

I read that 200 bodies have been found at one beach. Is it possible that these were sightseers who ignore tsunami alerts?
Click to expand...

Sightseers? I doubt that. There are thousands and thousands dead, the waves were 25 feet tall, I saw floating debris that was on fire.

The earthquake was I think 80 miles off shore, the wave travels around 600 miles per hour, so if that's 10 miles per minute they had 8 minutes of warning tops.

The whirlpool video was freaky. It's like I'm watching a movie.
 
Re: Japan hit by 8.9 earthquake.

bigdaddy said:
Miss Chicken said:
Does anyone know how warning did the people of the area got? Did most people have time to evacuate? I thought that the first earthquake was on the 9th and that a tsunami warning was issued then.

I read that 200 bodies have been found at one beach. Is it possible that these were sightseers who ignore tsunami alerts?
Click to expand...

Sightseers? I doubt that. There are thousands and thousands dead, the waves were 25 feet tall, I saw floating debris that was on fire.

The earthquake was I think 80 miles off shore, the wave travels around 600 miles per hour, so if that's 10 miles per minute they had 8 minutes of warning tops.

The whirlpool video was freaky. It's like I'm watching a movie.
Click to expand...

Reports here are saying that the death toll might top 1000 but not thousands and thousands. This is the reason why I thought there must have been mass evacuations before the tsunami hit and that the people killed were people who didn't evacuate for some reason.
 
Re: Japan hit by 8.9 earthquake.

I have just found out how much warning some people had of these tsunami

Though the system often works quite well, it sometimes can't work fast enough. Near the quake's epicenter, the waves were huge, powerful and destructive. Warnings went out three minutes after the quake, but along parts of the Japanese coast, the waves arrived just 10 minutes later, according to media reports.
Click to expand...
 
Re: Japan hit by 8.9 earthquake.

^That was not central Sendai from what I've seen. And I hope I'm right.

I just learned that I was misinformed. Yes, she texted and said she was okay, but shocked. But that was after the first big quake, before the tsunami. No contact since then. I'm really hoping that just means the coms are out and not something worse.
 
Re: Japan hit by 8.9 earthquake.

Water dropped 2m in San Francisco harbour and ships and part of a peer were damaged.

Water has flooded several hotel lobbies in Hawaii.

20cm wave hit NZ a few hours ago. Nothing serious.

EDIT: Make that 40cm, with predictions it'll reach 1m soon.
 
Re: Japan hit by 8.9 earthquake.

Though they got little warning of the tsunamis caused by the 8.9 earthquake, there had been tsunami alert issued in 9th March following the 7.2 earthquake. The people of Sendai know just how prone they are to tsunamis, would many of them have stayed on higher ground following the previous earthquake?
 
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