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9.0 Earthquake strikes Japan


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They were all too close, really. Those two clowns were some epic morons, though.

I mean Oregon isn't the Eastern Shore of Maryland or something. There are plenty of places 50-100 feet ASL where you're perfectly safe, right next to the coast, where you can get some great pics and video.

I imagine if a Chesapeake Bay impactor-like event somehow happened again, there would be people there trying to take pics of that too.

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Re: The 9.1

I think the 9.1 is the Tsunami Warning Center's estimate, vs. the 8.9 which is the USGS estimate still. Not uncommon for there to be discrepancies.

Yep... I've seen different figures for the 2004 earthquake also, 9.1 and 9.3

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No doubt this helps a lot, had this event hit the east coast fo the US instead things would have been much different with lots of places heavily damaged.

Paper on the tsunami threat to the Americas from large quakes off Portugal and Spain - seems the 1755 Lisbon Quake didn't impact the US because of its propagation angle, but other earthquakes could.

http://www.whoi.edu/science/GG/people/jlin/papers/Barkan_tenBrink_Lin_Mar_Geol_2009.pdf

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Just happen to get on CNN last night right after intial quake. The video I watched was jaw dropping. No chance anyone in that area survived. I heard from a second hand source that at least 275,000 people in one city are unaccounted for. Horrible day for Japan, my heart goes out to all the people there. Just imagine the death toll if this was 100 miles close to Tokyo. Scary thought.

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Just happen to get on CNN last night right after intial quake. The video I watched was jaw dropping. No chance anyone in that area survived. I heard from a second hand source that at least 275,000 people in one city are unaccounted for. Horrible day for Japan, my heart goes out to all the people there. Just imagine the death toll if this was 100 miles close to Tokyo. Scary thought.

I wonder if the death toll will be higher from the Kobe earthquake. Japan's economy still hasn't recovered from that quake and then this one hits.... geez.

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Pretty chilling when the reporter in the chopper said they were looking hard for people but could see none.

Found out that my cousin lives closer to the shore than the center of Sendai (we don't know where he was when the tsunami hit). Obviously still no word from him, but everything I see does not bode well. We're a very close family, so this is hitting us all very hard. Please keep him in your thoughts and/or prayers, along with the thousands of other people over there.

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Just happen to get on CNN last night right after intial quake. The video I watched was jaw dropping. No chance anyone in that area survived. I heard from a second hand source that at least 275,000 people in one city are unaccounted for. Horrible day for Japan, my heart goes out to all the people there. Just imagine the death toll if this was 100 miles close to Tokyo. Scary thought.

It's not good to spread second hand rumors

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This USGS page describeds Subsidence from the Indian Ocean Earthquake in 2004. This event is clearly of the magnitude and of the similar fault type where this could occur. Also it is evident that a lot of the land there is very flat and low lying making the situation worse. It may not even be feasible to rebuild some of these communities at their current location.

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My only point was that "TSUNAMI WARNING" sounds like something absolutely catastrophic is going to happen. This was clearly not the case in HI or the US. A few canoes getting knocked around and some high water ashore could be covered with different wording in my opinion. I guess being a professional meteorologist isn't enough credentials to have a reasonable opinion on something.. how dare I, a "random poster" question the "seismologists and tectonics experts who issue these warnings?" Because they did a good job with their forecasts.. they were close to verifying in most spots and not catastrophic anywhere in the US including HI.

Would you prefer they issued a coastal flood warning instead?

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Just got word that my cousin is alive and well. When the earthquake hit, he immediately headed inland. No direct contact yet, but we're getting word from the company he works for over there.

japan isnt indonesia.. people know what to do in those areas despite very little warning. im sure the toll is high but some people are getting carried away.

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The buildings are designed to do that. By swaying with the earth movement like that they have less stress on them than if they were rigid. People and things inside get shook up but it's far less damaging or injurious than have the whole building collapse like the Juarez Hospital in Mexico City in 1985. BTW many of the high rises in SFO and L.A. are designed the same way.

Steve

I think some of us who are marveling at that video realize that they're designed to do that... but its still really remarkable to watch massive skyscrapers swaying as if they were trees in the breeze.

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When a town of 70000 is gone and no one is in sight, where did they go Ian?

i was referring mainly to the 275k or whatever -- i dunno. i've been out most of the day so im probably not as up to date on specifics as others. i know there was not much time.. so it is probably pretty damn bad, but the extremes are often not right.

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One of the best things about these types of threads is the rapid sharing of breaking news and information from a variety of sources by different posters. It condenses a lot of meaningful information into one place at a rapid pace, something you aren't going to get by visiting one or two main news outlet sites.

I agree with this. In fact, its the only reason I'm reading the thread.

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I think Sendai had about an hour warning before the tsunami hit so hopefully most people got out in time. Though in the video you can still see cars on the road and on one highway the traffic appeared to be backed up for miles. They might have been far enough inland though.

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