Major Earthquake & Tsunami in Japan

[Blitz187]

Crazy stuff! I wish all the people there strength to get through this. 👍 Terrible to watch.

 

[Touring Mars]

If my understanding of the richter scale is right, this one was 20 times the strength of the recent NZ one :

Assuming the NZ quake was 6.3 and some estimates are putting this one at 8.9, it would be far more than 20 times stronger... it's more like 400 times stronger (each 1.0 increase on the Richter Scale represents an increase in strength of an additional factor of 10) and released some 8000 times more energy

 

[laracer]

We hope that Kaz and his team and their families are safe.

 

[McLaren]

Buddies in Denton, Tx just messaged me that gas stations are raising prices in response to the disaster & warnings on the west coast. 👎

Stay safe for those of you in the warning zones.

 

[chances14]

where is PD office...

tokyo

 

[Crash]

Holy crap. I wouldn't have learned about this if I didn't click on this thread. This is terrible, and I hope that people in Japan are alright.

I read through the tsunami warning reports for the US West Coast. Thankfully, they predict that waves would probably only reach as high as three or so feet on the West Coast. Be safe everyone.

 

[Robin]

Watching this on the BBC news channel. The debris filled flood water looks like some sort of sprawling alien creature, its scary! I hope Japan can cope, as they are used to living in an earthquake zone and build accordingly (after Kobe) that should have helped minimize the damage.

I wonder if this has anything to do with the Supermoon Event that's currently going on and set to get stronger over the next few weeks, the moon is the closest its been since 1992 and scientists said it might have some effect on the earth.

Just when they were saying 'oh its unlikely the moon will trigger earthquakes & natural disasters' here comes the biggest in Japan's history! Coincidence?

Robin.

 

[Muzaffar]

I just got the news while I was in college earlier, and I already commented about it on Facebook and Twitter. Yeah, just hope everyone are alright over there! I have a few friends over in Japan (and some within Tokyo) which are thankfully unhurt, but hearing that the earthquake hit 8.9 on the Richter Scale was pretty scary... I pray that everyone in Japan are alright and that the casualties are minimal. First the typhoon in Australia, then the earthquake in New Zealand and now this. What else is gonna happen next? 👎

 

[Blitz187]

^^^^ And the massive landslide in Bolivia not to long ago... Is Mother Earth mad at us? Or are these things just more in view because of the internet now... Seems like a lot of natural disasters in a short period...

 

[Omnis]

Something just occured to me. The sumo association picked a good time to cancel a basho.

Maybe the kami spirits are pissed off that there isn't any march sumo because of the match fixing.

 

[Time_Attack]

Is Mother Earth mad at us? Or are these things just more in view because of the internet now... Seems like a lot of natural disasters in a short period...

These things are always hyped up because of the news media wanting the next big story. It sucks for those involved but these things happen all the time. All you can do is be prepared for the worst should the need ever arise.

 

[mohammad]

i am sorry for anyone from japan that is involved or anyone who has loved ones involved in this.. i hope situation gets better soon & this stuff never happens ever again in any country [ although we all know its gonna.. ]

 

[Mike Rotch]

Assuming the NZ quake was 6.3 and some estimates are putting this one at 8.9, it would be far more than 20 times stronger... it's more like 400 times stronger (each 1.0 increase on the Richter Scale represents an increase in strength of an additional factor of 10) and released some 8000 times more energy

I got a bit mixed up in converting kilotons of energy to megatons

But thats one colossal quake. www.smh.com.au claims the quake is the seventh biggest of all time I guess there is some good fortune in that it wasnt centered on Toyko!

 

[Danny]

My thoughts are with everyone affected.

 

[Stevisiov]

Just when they were saying 'oh its unlikely the moon will trigger earthquakes & natural disasters' here comes the biggest in Japan's history! Coincidence?

Robin.

Most likely yes.

 

[HumanDestroyah]

Just saw on the news that a nuclear power plant is failing.

 

[mohammad]

ok i am now scared of this supermoon thing the weather was pretty weird last night here & now its happening again.. last night was like .. 2mins rain.. 10mins nothing.. then 2mins rain.. 10mins nothing
now its thunder & weird sounds but no rain

i am regretting eating pizza & sandwich all my life & sitting here playing video games n surfing net

 

[MercilessOne]

The U.S. National Weather Service issued tsunami warnings to 20 countries.


That includes the Philippines on the list. I've got family there and in Japan as well... I really hope it's nothing too serious. I can't stand to watch being here while all that is happening.

It makes me wonder though... what is going on? So many natural disasters have been happening in a rather short period of time.

 

[Robin]

Most likely yes.

The Supermoon in 2004 and the Indonesian earthquake? Also a coincidence?

It does seem plausible that if the moon has a greater gravitational pull on the earth which especially affects oceans it could create vast weight imbalances in the sea leading to geological activity. I guess we will have to wait and see what the experts say but its already being considered as a possible cause.

Robin.

 

[monoha]

Hurts to watch this on the TV - Sending love to Japan and it's people,
I hope you all are safe <3

 

[Wiegert]

My thoughts go out to all of the people who have been affected by this disaster. It seems that whenever I turn on the TV in the morning, there is yet another natural distaster of some kind that has caused extensive damage and loss of life, not cool.

The Supermoon in 2004 and the Indonesian earthquake? Also a coincidence?

It does seem plausible that if the moon has a greater gravitational pull on the earth which especially affects oceans it could create vast weight imbalances in the sea leading to geological activity. I guess we will have to wait and see what the experts say but its already being considered as a possible cause.

Robin.

I did see something about that a couple of days ago, but what I read was that it could cause a Tsunami, not an Earthquake of this magnitude.

Just some info, this Earthquake apparently occured 35km below the Earth's surface, which is alot deeper than the Christchurch Earthquake. It's also the 6th largest Earthquake to happen since 1900.

 

[tourist]

It is really scary.
And it is even more due all this footage.

Saw those cars running away from the water and seeing how the water is faster and reaches them made my eyes wet. It is absolutly horrible!!

At same time some ***** dictator is slaughtering his people and nobody does anything about it.. If it goes on like this 2012 Myth isnt anymore a myth...

 

[drummermaniac]

Just saw on the news that a nuclear power plant is failing.

That´s terrible .

 

[Culkin]

That´s terrible .

They've lost power to the coolant system protecting the rods so hopefully however bad it sounds the engineers have quickly jumped on the situation

 

[HumanDestroyah]

I would hate to see another Chernobyl like scenario in my lifetime

 

[alexleighton]

It makes me wonder though... what is going on? So many natural disasters have been happening in a rather short period of time.

There's more people alive to be hit by them, and more global news to tell us about them..

Nonetheless, it's a horrible thing to see happen, and my thoughts are with everyone effected today.

 

[Omnis]

I would hate to see another Chernobyl like scenario in my lifetime

Something like that today would be impossible without reckless, extreme negligence.

 

[ryandtw]

I feel sad about the people who are victimized by the earthquake. I hope they get safe in the upcoming days, weeks and months to come.

And I think any minute the tsunami is coming to Hawaii, apparently... Or any second...

 

[Wiegert]

They've lost power to the coolant system protecting the rods so hopefully however bad it sounds the engineers have quickly jumped on the situation

There is now a state of emergency at the nuclear power plant in question, but apparently the facility is not in immediate danger.

 

[Dotini]

I wonder if this has anything to do with the Supermoon Event that's currently going on and set to get stronger over the next few weeks, the moon is the closest its been since 1992 and scientists said it might have some effect on the earth.

Just when they were saying 'oh its unlikely the moon will trigger earthquakes & natural disasters' here comes the biggest in Japan's history! Coincidence?

Robin.

The Supermoon in 2004 and the Indonesian earthquake? Also a coincidence?

It does seem plausible that if the moon has a greater gravitational pull on the earth which especially affects oceans it could create vast weight imbalances in the sea leading to geological activity. I guess we will have to wait and see what the experts say but its already being considered as a possible cause.

Robin.

Regarding the "Supermoon", and predictions of adverse weather phenomena, I posted this in the weather thread back on the 7th: http://www.accuweather.com/blogs/astronomy/story/46417/extreme-super-full-moon-to-cause-chaos.asp

There seems to be some correlation between extreme solar activity and extreme events on Earth, including weather, volcanoes and earthquakes, but it's not an open and shut case. The Sun's magnetic field strength is at an 8000 year high. An X-Class flare was directed at the Earth yesterday.

AURORAS INVADE THE USA: Earth's magnetic field is still reverberating from a CME strike on March 10th. During the past 24 hours, Northern Lights have descended as far south as Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Michigan in the United States

X-FLARE: March 9th ended with a powerful solar flare. Earth-orbiting satellites detected an X1.5-class explosion from behemoth sunspot 1166 around 2323 UT. A movie from NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory shows a bright flash of UV radiation plus some material being hurled away from the blast site.
UPDATE (March 10 @ 1800 UT): Newly-arriving coronagraph data from the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory show no bright CME emerging from this eruption. Some material was surely hurled in our direction, but probably not enough for significant Earth-effects.

After four years without any X-flares, the sun has produced two of the powerful blasts in less than one month: Feb. 15th and March 9th. This continues the recent trend of increasing solar activity, and shows that Solar Cycle 24 is heating up. NOAA forecasters estimate a 5% chance of more X-flares during the next 24 hours.
http://spaceweather.com/ <-- posted March 10

See also:http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2010/04jun_swef/
and http://www.youtube.com/SolarWatcher
and http://news.yahoo.com/s/space/20110310/sc_space/willmarch19supermoontriggernaturaldisasters

Deeply regretting the loss of life and property in Japan,
Dotini