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9.0 Earthquake strikes Japan


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It's been fascinating to watch peoples reactions to this event. Because it effected a developed "western" (lol) nation the "could've been us" feeling elicits a more empathetic response then what we saw in the quakes in Chile, Haiti or Indonesia. All just perspective because the quakes in those other countries were just as bad for those that were in them.

If one were to take a more callous economic view this will no doubt effect the entire world through the financial markets. Monday will be an interesting day on Wall St. and beyond.

I think Japan is the world's third largest economy. This is bound to have an effect on the world's economy.

I'm dimly aware of the Japanese "Lost Decades" and how the US may be mirroring that, I wonder (but do not know) if the massive rebuilding efforts will fire up their economy, or further weaken it.

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I think Japan is the world's third largest economy. This is bound to have an effect on the world's economy.

I'm dimly aware of the Japanese "Lost Decades" and how the US may be mirroring that, I wonder (but do not know) if the massive rebuilding efforts will fire up their economy, or further weaken it.

I don't think the rebuilding will hurt their economy. I would also look to the US and Germany to profit from the rebuilding.

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If one were to take a more callous economic view this will no doubt effect the entire world through the financial markets. Monday will be an interesting day on Wall St. and beyond.

It's rumored the BOJ is set to inject somewhere in the neighborhood of $2 trillion yen over Monday and Tuesday to support their market.

Based on the action here on Friday there may not be the wild swings anticipated except for the Far East exchanges or if the issues at the nuclear plant were to deteriorate. Eventually though there could be a significant drag on Japan.

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There is some ground level Banda Aceh that is better than anything I've seen so far from this event.

This just has some breathtaking aerial footage.

I seem to remember some of the most devastating Indonesia footage not appearing online until days and weeks after it happened. Remember, we're less than two days out, and millions are still without power -- 4 million in Tokyo alone, and that's a long distance from the epicenter.

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I'm sorry, did I mention huts as the basis of my argument?

And, you really don't want to get into this hurricane biz, because the logic could easily be turned on your position....was Hugo more impressive than 1935 because we have good footage of the former and none of the latter? Plus, building codes were better in the 80's than they were in the 30's.

But, again, you're misunderstanding me. I never said these tsunamis were greater than the 2004 tsunamis. I was remarking on the quality of the footage documenting the destruction as it took place. I have no opinion-- repeat, no opinion-- Re: which tsunamis were taller, stronger, bigger, etc., because I have no idea.

It wasn't just fields. There were buildings getting destroyed MILES inland in that footage. (At least it looked more than a mile).

Yes.

Not if you are viewing it from a detached perspective like Josh. He just notices the quality of construction. :P

Yes, I am viewing these from a detached perspective.

It's been fascinating to watch peoples reactions to this event. Because it effected a developed "western" (lol) nation the "could've been us" feeling elicits a more empathetic response then what we saw in the quakes in Chile, Haiti or Indonesia. All just perspective because the quakes in those other countries were just as bad for those that were in them.

If one were to take a more callous economic view this will no doubt effect the entire world through the financial markets. Monday will be an interesting day on Wall St. and beyond.

You missed the point of the discussion. No one was having more empathy with the Japanese because they're more developed. The original point was that it is more awe-inspiring to see a modern, industrial city destroyed by a tsunami than it is to see a hut colony destroyed by a tsunami-- because the former is presumably more resistant.

This has nothing to do with empathy or human suffering or anything else. Please don't misread something and then create a strawman that gives you an excuse to preach obvious things-- i.e., a disaster that anyone experiences is bad for them. We all know this.

P.S. Re: the "Western (lol)" remark... Who in this thread said Japan is Western?

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As I've said, it's subjective. I think this is way more dramatic; you think the 2004 stuff is. We can have different responses to things-- no point in arguing. It's like trying to convince someone why blue is a better color than green.

I agree with you, because of your premise. I think it's a lot more impressive to see modern, well-built houses destroyed, than third-world huts, which always seem much easier to destroy.

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That looked like one of the flatter parts of Japan (not an expert, brief visit to Okinawa only), and it would seem 10 or 15 minutes notice wouldn't be enough for a lot of people to get the six miles or more inland needed to escape the tsunami.

I saw the California tsunami footage on CNN this morning, such a small looking wave, just a foot or two high, but it had such speed and power as it was wrecking the docks and boats.

Well, the largest wave in CA was 6.6 ft in Crescent city but the tsunami videos point up the big difference between a surging wave like a tsunami or storm surge and a wind driven breaking wave of the same height. Santa Cruz is a surfing beach because they routinely get 6+ foot breakers that don't even reach the boardwalk let alone the Marina. The volume of water contained in a tsunami is enormous and given the speed of advance (50-100 km/hr) the energy is as well.

Steve

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Steve,

I had asked earlier yesterday why the earth rotation was quicker; not sure if you saw my question. Why doesn't it slow down instead?

The plate drops toward the core during a subduction quake...decreasing the effective radius of the earth. By conservation of angular moment, once the moment of inertia is decreased, the rotation rate must increase.

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I'm impressed by how well the tsunami warnings worked in Hawaii and the west coast. It clearly wasn't anywhere near a worst case situation but you have to think lives were saved of people who would have been caught off guard in harbors on boats or docks or even on beaches.

Well done by NOAA!

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The plate drops toward the core during a subduction quake...decreasing the effective radius of the earth. By conservation of angular moment, once the moment of inertia is decreased, the rotation rate must increase.

Oh wow, I thought it was the other way around. I thought the plate being thrusted upwards created the tsunami.

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Steve,

I had asked earlier yesterday why the earth rotation was quicker; not sure if you saw my question. Why doesn't it slow down instead?

It depends upon the thrust of the energy which in this case was prograde. I'm not sure that in the past that it hasn't slowed down in one of these events. Actually if one takes the greater tidal effect of the Moon which slows our rotation it's more of a slight decrease in that rather than an actual increase.

Steve

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I'm impressed by how well the tsunami warnings worked in Hawaii and the west coast. It clearly wasn't anywhere near a worst case situation but you have to think lives were saved of people who would have been caught off guard in harbors on boats or docks or even on beaches.

Well done by NOAA!

This.

More than just a few people on the beaches and in harbors would have been swept out to see if yesterday's tsunami was a surprise. No real structural damage except to boats and docks, but plenty of power released on the beaches.

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This.

More than just a few people on the beaches and in harbors would have been swept out to see if yesterday's tsunami was a surprise. No real structural damage except to boats and docks, but plenty of power released on the beaches.

I know yesterday or the day before some fool on here was saying the alerts were totally overkill... but they most certainly weren't. The warnings did exactly what they were supposed to do.

No one was expecting a 5 or 10 meter tsunami in California... but the 1-2 meter forecasts were spot on.

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I know yesterday or the day before some fool on here was saying the alerts were totally overkill... but they most certainly weren't. The warnings did exactly what they were supposed to do.

No one was expecting a 5 or 10 meter tsunami in California... but the 1-2 meter forecasts were spot on.

Yeah for sure. What a great job by those guys.

I just hope people don't fall into a false sense of security, because this tsunami wasn't the 80' wall of water like something from the Day after Tomorrow. These things are an entirely different beast than a normal wave or even surge, like Steve pointed out. I hope the footage from Japan made people realize just how incredibly powerful these things are.

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Yeah for sure. What a great job by those guys.

I just hope people don't fall into a false sense of security, because this tsunami wasn't the 80' wall of water like something from the Day after Tomorrow. These things are an entirely different beast than a normal wave or even surge, like Steve pointed out. I hope the footage from Japan made people realize just how incredibly powerful these things are.

Absolutely. The power behind a tsunami is absolutely incredible. If anything this was a fantastic drill for Hawaii and the west coast.

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Yeah for sure. What a great job by those guys.

I just hope people don't fall into a false sense of security, because this tsunami wasn't the 80' wall of water like something from the Day after Tomorrow. These things are an entirely different beast than a normal wave or even surge, like Steve pointed out. I hope the footage from Japan made people realize just how incredibly powerful these things are.

It was a red tagger that said it.

I've been in the ocean when there are riptides. Even water 6 inches deep can wipe you off your feet. I can't even imagine getting hit by one of these waves.

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Yeah for sure. What a great job by those guys.

I just hope people don't fall into a false sense of security, because this tsunami wasn't the 80' wall of water like something from the Day after Tomorrow. These things are an entirely different beast than a normal wave or even surge, like Steve pointed out. I hope the footage from Japan made people realize just how incredibly powerful these things are.

Tsunami Warnings aren't really all that common so I have serious doubts that becoming desensitized is a serious problem.

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Tsunami Warnings aren't really all that common so I have serious doubts that becoming desensitized is a serious problem.

I heard comments on the CA stuff about "Oh that's not a big wave......I thought it would be bigger". Unfortunately, someone taking pics may have thought the same, and got swept out to sea. It was those comments that had me cringe. Like you said, they don't happen often so hopefully some aren't desensitized.I don't think it's a big problem, but there are always a few out there.

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I heard comments on the CA stuff about "Oh that's not a big wave......I thought it would be bigger". Unfortunately, someone taking pics may have thought the same, and got swept out to sea. It was those comments that had me cringe. Like you said, they don't happen often so hopefully some aren't desensitized.I don't think it's a big problem, but there are always a few out there.

There are a few out there who wouldn't do anything no matter what kind of a warning is issued. I don't think there's really anything we can do about them.

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I heard comments on the CA stuff about "Oh that's not a big wave......I thought it would be bigger". Unfortunately, someone taking pics may have thought the same, and got swept out to sea. It was those comments that had me cringe. Like you said, they don't happen often so hopefully some aren't desensitized.I don't think it's a big problem, but there are always a few out there.

you can't fix stupid.

The one guy who was swept out to sea was taking pictures.

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It was a red tagger that said it.

I've been in the ocean when there are riptides. Even water 6 inches deep can wipe you off your feet. I can't even imagine getting hit by one of these waves.

This is also what gets people killed in flash floods-- people just don't comprehend the power of water-- what even a small amount of water can do as far as lifting up cars and washing them away-- let alone something with the kind of energy like this has.

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