Massive Earthquake and Tsunami strikes Japan

[shadowplay]

A powerful earthquake has struck off Japan's north-eastern coast, shaking buildings in Tokyo and forcing people out of their homes, witnesses said.

Japan issued its most serious tsunami warning, saying a wave as high as 6m (20ft) could strike the coast near Miyagi prefecture.

US officials said the 8.8-magnitude quake struck about 250 miles (400km) from Tokyo at a depth of 20 miles.

TV pictures showed a wave crashing into the Pacific coast.

The surge of water carried cars and ships as it surged through a coastal town.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-12709598

This is potentially huge. I can't believe what I'm seeing... I wonder how widespread this is going to end up being.

I'm watching footage on Japanese TV right now of a massive wall of water surging into some town.

 

[civ_king]

Been update to an 8.9, on CNN I saw a building floating by

 

[shadowplay]

I can't believe some of this footage. This is potentially huge. God help these people.

 

[SG-17]

The wave is on its way to Russia and many Pacific islands, including Hawaii. This could potentially be very devastating. Hopefully they evacuate as a precaution.


In regards to the wave that already hit Japan, I hope it isn't as bad as it looks.

 

[amadeus]

I'm watching the NHK right now and they're saying it's 8.4.

NHK: Taiwan, Russia, Guam, Wake Island, Marianas also under tsunami warning. Tsunami waves could be 6-10m high. It seems the tsunami is causing the most problems, flooding a rural area right now.

4 million buildings in Tokyo lost power. 5 nuclear plants have been shut down.

The Great Hanshin earthquake in 1995 was 6.9, by the way.

NHK now showing some kind of industrial fire in Chiba (near Tokyo)

 

[Strider]

Thankfully the simple fact that we already know about this will save hundreds if not thousands of lives. A large part of the problem with the Indian Ocean tsunami was that no one knew it was coming until it was already there. This should give plenty of people time to evacuate and give rescue crews more time to prepare and organize.

Still this has the potential to be devasting.

 

[Singularity]

http://www.weather.gov/ptwc/?region=1&id=pacific.2011.03.11.064306

000
WEPA40 PHEB 110643
TSUPAC
TSUNAMI BULLETIN NUMBER 002
PACIFIC TSUNAMI WARNING CENTER/NOAA/NWS
ISSUED AT 0643Z 11 MAR 2011
THIS BULLETIN APPLIES TO AREAS WITHIN AND BORDERING THE PACIFIC
OCEAN AND ADJACENT SEAS...EXCEPT ALASKA...BRITISH COLUMBIA...
WASHINGTON...OREGON AND CALIFORNIA.
... A TSUNAMI WARNING AND WATCH ARE IN EFFECT ...
A TSUNAMI WARNING IS IN EFFECT FOR
JAPAN / RUSSIA / MARCUS IS. / N. MARIANAS / GUAM / WAKE IS. /
TAIWAN
A TSUNAMI WATCH IS IN EFFECT FOR
YAP / PHILIPPINES / MARSHALL IS. / BELAU / MIDWAY IS. /
POHNPEI / CHUUK / KOSRAE / INDONESIA / PAPUA NEW GUINEA /
NAURU / JOHNSTON IS. / SOLOMON IS. / KIRIBATI / HAWAII
FOR ALL OTHER AREAS COVERED BY THIS BULLETIN... IT IS FOR
INFORMATION ONLY AT THIS TIME.
THIS BULLETIN IS ISSUED AS ADVICE TO GOVERNMENT AGENCIES. ONLY
NATIONAL AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT AGENCIES HAVE THE AUTHORITY TO MAKE
DECISIONS REGARDING THE OFFICIAL STATE OF ALERT IN THEIR AREA AND
ANY ACTIONS TO BE TAKEN IN RESPONSE.
AN EARTHQUAKE HAS OCCURRED WITH THESE PRELIMINARY PARAMETERS
ORIGIN TIME - 0546Z 11 MAR 2011
COORDINATES - 38.2 NORTH 142.5 EAST
DEPTH - 10 KM
LOCATION - NEAR EAST COAST OF HONSHU JAPAN
MAGNITUDE - 8.8
MEASUREMENTS OR REPORTS OF TSUNAMI WAVE ACTIVITY
GAUGE LOCATION LAT LON TIME AMPL PER
DART 21418 38.7N 148.7E 0619Z 1.08M / 3.5FT 06MIN
LAT - LATITUDE (N-NORTH, S-SOUTH)
LON - LONGITUDE (E-EAST, W-WEST)
TIME - TIME OF THE MEASUREMENT (Z IS UTC IS GREENWICH TIME)
AMPL - TSUNAMI AMPLITUDE MEASURED RELATIVE TO NORMAL SEA LEVEL.
IT IS ...NOT... CREST-TO-TROUGH WAVE HEIGHT.
VALUES ARE GIVEN IN BOTH METERS(M) AND FEET(FT).
PER - PERIOD OF TIME IN MINUTES(MIN) FROM ONE WAVE TO THE NEXT.
NOTE - DART MEASUREMENTS ARE FROM THE DEEP OCEAN AND THEY
ARE GENERALLY MUCH SMALLER THAN WOULD BE COASTAL
MEASUREMENTS AT SIMILAR LOCATIONS.
EVALUATION
SEA LEVEL READINGS INDICATE A TSUNAMI WAS GENERATED. IT MAY HAVE
BEEN DESTRUCTIVE ALONG COASTS NEAR THE EARTHQUAKE EPICENTER AND
COULD ALSO BE A THREAT TO MORE DISTANT COASTS. AUTHORITIES SHOULD
TAKE APPROPRIATE ACTION IN RESPONSE TO THIS POSSIBILITY. THIS
CENTER WILL CONTINUE TO MONITOR SEA LEVEL DATA TO DETERMINE THE
EXTENT AND SEVERITY OF THE THREAT.
FOR ALL AREAS - WHEN NO MAJOR WAVES ARE OBSERVED FOR TWO HOURS
AFTER THE ESTIMATED TIME OF ARRIVAL OR DAMAGING WAVES HAVE NOT
OCCURRED FOR AT LEAST TWO HOURS THEN LOCAL AUTHORITIES CAN ASSUME
THE THREAT IS PASSED. DANGER TO BOATS AND COASTAL STRUCTURES CAN
CONTINUE FOR SEVERAL HOURS DUE TO RAPID CURRENTS. AS LOCAL
CONDITIONS CAN CAUSE A WIDE VARIATION IN TSUNAMI WAVE ACTION THE
ALL CLEAR DETERMINATION MUST BE MADE BY LOCAL AUTHORITIES.
ESTIMATED INITIAL TSUNAMI WAVE ARRIVAL TIMES AT FORECAST POINTS
WITHIN THE WARNING AND WATCH AREAS ARE GIVEN BELOW. ACTUAL
ARRIVAL TIMES MAY DIFFER AND THE INITIAL WAVE MAY NOT BE THE
LARGEST. A TSUNAMI IS A SERIES OF WAVES AND THE TIME BETWEEN
SUCCESSIVE WAVES CAN BE FIVE MINUTES TO ONE HOUR.
LOCATION FORECAST POINT COORDINATES ARRIVAL TIME
JAPAN KATSUURA 35.1N 140.3E 0635Z 11 MAR
KUSHIRO 42.9N 144.3E 0642Z 11 MAR
HACHINOHE 40.5N 141.5E 0700Z 11 MAR
SHIMIZU 32.8N 133.0E 0756Z 11 MAR
OKINAWA 26.2N 127.8E 0912Z 11 MAR
RUSSIA URUP_IS 46.1N 150.5E 0714Z 11 MAR
SEVERO_KURILSK 50.8N 156.1E 0834Z 11 MAR
PETROPAVLOVSK_K 53.2N 159.6E 0836Z 11 MAR
UST_KAMCHATSK 56.1N 162.6E 0840Z 11 MAR
MEDNNY_IS 54.7N 167.4E 0903Z 11 MAR
MARCUS IS. MARCUS_IS. 24.3N 154.0E 0757Z 11 MAR
N. MARIANAS SAIPAN 15.3N 145.8E 0853Z 11 MAR
GUAM GUAM 13.4N 144.7E 0909Z 11 MAR
WAKE IS. WAKE_IS. 19.3N 166.6E 0925Z 11 MAR
TAIWAN HUALIEN 24.0N 121.7E 0932Z 11 MAR
HUALIEN 24.0N 121.6E 0933Z 11 MAR
TAITUNG 22.7N 121.2E 0936Z 11 MAR
CHILUNG 25.2N 121.8E 1004Z 11 MAR
YAP YAP_IS. 9.5N 138.1E 0944Z 11 MAR
PHILIPPINES PALANAN 17.1N 122.6E 0955Z 11 MAR
LEGASPI 13.2N 123.8E 1026Z 11 MAR
DAVAO 6.8N 125.7E 1053Z 11 MAR
MARSHALL IS. ENIWETOK 11.4N 162.3E 1013Z 11 MAR
KWAJALEIN 8.7N 167.7E 1044Z 11 MAR
MAJURO 7.1N 171.4E 1124Z 11 MAR
BELAU MALAKAL 7.3N 134.5E 1025Z 11 MAR
MIDWAY IS. MIDWAY_IS. 28.2N 182.6E 1026Z 11 MAR
POHNPEI POHNPEI_IS. 7.0N 158.2E 1027Z 11 MAR
CHUUK CHUUK_IS. 7.4N 151.8E 1034Z 11 MAR
KOSRAE KOSRAE_IS. 5.5N 163.0E 1043Z 11 MAR
INDONESIA GEME 4.6N 126.8E 1049Z 11 MAR
BEREBERE 2.5N 128.7E 1058Z 11 MAR
WARSA 0.6S 135.8E 1110Z 11 MAR
MANOKWARI 0.8S 134.2E 1118Z 11 MAR
PATANI 0.4N 128.8E 1124Z 11 MAR
JAYAPURA 2.4S 140.8E 1135Z 11 MAR
SORONG 0.8S 131.1E 1135Z 11 MAR
PAPUA NEW GUINE MANUS_IS. 2.0S 147.5E 1124Z 11 MAR
KAVIENG 2.5S 150.7E 1124Z 11 MAR
VANIMO 2.6S 141.3E 1134Z 11 MAR
WEWAK 3.5S 143.6E 1146Z 11 MAR
RABAUL 4.2S 152.3E 1154Z 11 MAR
KIETA 6.1S 155.6E 1205Z 11 MAR
AMUN 6.0S 154.7E 1211Z 11 MAR
MADANG 5.2S 145.8E 1215Z 11 MAR
NAURU NAURU 0.5S 166.9E 1149Z 11 MAR
JOHNSTON IS. JOHNSTON_IS. 16.7N 190.5E 1202Z 11 MAR
SOLOMON IS. PANGGOE 6.9S 157.2E 1221Z 11 MAR
FALAMAE 7.4S 155.6E 1222Z 11 MAR
MUNDA 8.4S 157.2E 1239Z 11 MAR
KIRIBATI TARAWA_IS. 1.5N 173.0E 1228Z 11 MAR
BULLETINS WILL BE ISSUED HOURLY OR SOONER IF CONDITIONS WARRANT.
THE TSUNAMI WARNING AND WATCH WILL REMAIN IN EFFECT UNTIL
FURTHER NOTICE.
THE JAPAN METEOROLOGICAL AGENCY MAY ALSO ISSUE TSUNAMI MESSAGES
FOR THIS EVENT TO COUNTRIES IN THE NORTHWEST PACIFIC AND SOUTH
CHINA SEA REGION. IN CASE OF CONFLICTING INFORMATION... THE
MORE CONSERVATIVE INFORMATION SHOULD BE USED FOR SAFETY.
THE WEST COAST/ALASKA TSUNAMI WARNING CENTER WILL ISSUE PRODUCTS
FOR ALASKA...BRITISH COLUMBIA...WASHINGTON...OREGON...CALIFORNIA.

Zulutime = Greenwich mean time.

Seems it will hit Guam, Wake, Taiwan, Phillipines and Marshal Isl. within 2 hours - more or less in that order.

 

[amadeus]

Sendai airport is flooded.

Japan's nuclear agency has said that no unusual levels of radiation were detected.

The cabinet ministers have all been called to the PM's office/the PM is setting up an emergency response task force. Haneda in Tokyo has reopened 3 of 4 runways, Narita airport (also Tokyo, handles international flights) is still closed.

That industrial building in Chiba-ken is an oil refinery on fire.

The governor of Miyagi Prefecture (where Sendai is) is now asking the PM to dispatch the military to help.

Tokyo fire department says that fires are being reported around the city.

 

[Berzerker]

thank God (so to speak) this happened during the day

I think

that wave or wall of water was just amazing

 

[Lord_Iggy]

Wow, I hope that the people affected can pull out of this alive.

 

[SG-17]

I just heard that another 7.1 quake has hit off of the east coast of Honshu.

 

[amadeus]

JR East says the northern lines of the bullet train have been stopped as well as trains headed towards Osaka. The bullet trains and nuclear plants in Japan have automatic shutdown systems so they're prepared for something like this (and in fact, much worse.)

One silver lining in all of this seems to be that thus far, these systems seem to be proving their worth.

 

[SG-17]

Japan is figuratively sinking.

 

[Mr. Dictator]

I feel more has happened in the past few months than the past few years, sometimes.

 

[Berzerker]

literally rising

 

[Tee Kay]

What's with all the f'ing earthquakes?

 

[Whiskey_Lord]

What's with all the f'ing earthquakes?

Jesus is coming. Unfortunately, his actual name is Jimmu Tenno and he's really pissed that people don't worship the emperor anymore.

 

[Smellincoffee]

What's with all the f'ing earthquakes?

I imagine both Japan and Christchurch are on the "Ring of Fire", an area known for this kind of turbulence. These quakes could be just two releases of the same stress.

 

[Archbob]

How long of an advanced warning did they get?

 

[Singularity]

I imagine both Japan and Christchurch are on the "Ring of Fire", an area known for this kind of turbulence. These quakes could be just two releases of the same stress.

US geological survey estimates a strength 8 - 8.9 quake every year. Though, with the 8.8 of chile last year this is at the far end of the estimate. 9's are only seen every 20 year.

NZ and Japan are not in the same hemisphere, let alone stress zone. An earthquake might be measured over immense distances, but the faults are highly regional in terms of both volcanic and tectonic stress relief.