# HUGE earthquake off shore of Japan



## Mike Reilley (Jan 2, 2008)

It's 1230AM now...and there's been an 8.9 followed by a 7.4 earthquake off the eastern coast of Japan. The news coverage is unbelievable. HUGE areas of northern Japan are under water. News helicopter video shows the waves going inland during their morning hour. Thousands of square miles were flooded. The tsunami created a 34' high wall of water that flowed inland and took all loose stuff with it. 

The earthquake impacts are still coming in...but Tokyo got a GOOD shake and there are fires in many areas. 

Hawaii has a Tsuanami Warning going now...and that means evacuate the coastal areas to the higher inland areas. They have lots of sirens they test every month that are running now...for real.

The West Coast has a Tsuanami Watch going now...meaning you should NOT be around the beach area...and folks living


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## Gary Armitstead (Jan 2, 2008)

This eathquake was really bad. The aerial video from helicopters last night, showed just how fast the tsunami was moving. The fifteen foot wave literally raced across farmlands. Most seismologists said this is the worst in eighty years. Just had reports of the small tsunami wave hitting Crescent City, California.


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## markoles (Jan 2, 2008)

Mike,

My BIL is on the USS Cowpens and sent us all this email at midnight, eastern:

Hi all-
This afternoon I witnessed a magnitude 7.9 earthquake from the ship
while pierside. I've been through several minor earthquakes on ships
before and usually we won't even know it's happened. Not so this time!

Most of the crew was topside for an abandon ship drill and all of sudden
the ship started swaying and sliding forward and aft - it almost felt
like we were at sea or a tug had just pushed up against us. The pier was
shaking all over the place and we saw the earthquake expansion joints on
it open up about a foot. The shaking lasted about 3-4 min and the ship
continued to shift back and forth for another 5 min or so after that.
Fortunately, no one was hurt and we didn't sustain any significant
damage. We parted two mooring lines (which are about 80,000 lbs test)
and a few minor equipment issues.

All in all - a pretty strange event. It's quite a feeling to see the
ship moving around that much with no means to control it aside from
hoping the lines hold!

Addendum: in the past hour the water level first dropped 5 or 6 feet,
then rose back up about 15' and is now receding at a visually
perceptible rate. Amazing! 



Video is amazing.


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## Greg Elmassian (Jan 3, 2008)

2 foot surge is expected in California. We are also at a low tide already here, so probably nothing will happen. Will hit San Diego in about an hour. 

Greg


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## xo18thfa (Jan 2, 2008)

We get NHK news from Tokyo, they are saying this is the biggest earthquake ever recorded in Japan. USGS shows it 80 miles east of Sendai. Dozens in the past 24 hours. 23 foot tsunami in Japan, 3 to 6 feet in Hawaii. Washington State and Oregon should be getting hit right about now.


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## xo18thfa (Jan 2, 2008)

The tsunami video's they are showing on NHK are horrific. Whole coastal towns pushed in land. It's a mess.


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## John J (Dec 29, 2007)

Is that the highest reading that has ever been recorded? Or have them been higher ones?


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## Andre Anderson (Jan 3, 2008)

JJ,

The graphic that I saw put this one as #5 all time with the Anchorage one leading the list, some down in South America were also on the list. It was three or four in the morning when I saw that little piece of information. I live in Oregon and by the time the tsunami got to us it was pretty much a non event, I really wish that I could say the same for Japan, I have a feeling that the clean up from this will make Katrina look small. My hopes and prayers are going out to the people of Japan.


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## afinegan (Jan 2, 2008)

There is a big problem happen as we speak:
http://blogs.forbes.com/williampent...chernobyl/


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## Torby (Jan 2, 2008)

It's unbelievable. I've been seeing reports, videos and photos all day.


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## Randy Stone (Jan 2, 2008)

Posted By John J on 11 Mar 2011 01:23 PM 
Is that the highest reading that has ever been recorded? Or have them been higher ones? 

*(CNN)* -- The earthquake that struck Japan on Friday, March 11, is not only the most powerful earthquake to hit Japan in at least 100 years, but also one of the most powerful earthquakes recorded worldwide since 1900.


The biggest quake recorded since 1900 hit the coast of southern Chile on May 22, 1960. The 9.5-magnitude quake killed more than 1,600 and left about 2 million people homeless.
The deadliest quake since 1900 occurred in Tangshan, China on July 27, 1976. The magnitude 7.5 quake had an official death toll of 255,000, with estimates as high as 655,000.


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## xo18thfa (Jan 2, 2008)

Posted By John J on 11 Mar 2011 01:23 PM 
Is that the highest reading that has ever been recorded? Or have them been higher ones? This is the largest ever in Japan. According to the USGS list, this one will rank #4 all time, world wide. The record is 9.5, Chile in 1960. The "Richter Scale" they use is logarithmic. An 8.0 earthquake is ten times more powerful then a 7.0, a hundred times more then a 6.0, thousand times more then a 5.0.


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## SteveC (Jan 2, 2008)

Not that it really makes any difference to the enumerable individuals caught up in the tragedy that has taken place in Japan, which I'm sure we all wish the very best personal outcome possible.

However, since part of the discussion has turned to comparison of one earthquake to another you might want to make sure which Seismic Scale[/b] each was measured on.


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## Pete Chimney (Jan 12, 2008)

The tsunami in Japan was caused by the movement of the Pacific Plate under the Japan Plate during the earthquake. The Japan Plate was forced up during the quake and caused an onerlying mass of water to bulge up, creating the tsaunami wave.

In the open ocean a person aboard a ship might not even notice the tsunami wave moving past the ship. The amplitude or height of the wave might only be 3-5 feet. The wave will trave in the open oceanl at high speeds, 400-500 mph. The wavelength or distance between crests can be measured in miles. Once this mass of rapidly moving water reaches shallow waters the drag on the bottom causes the wave to slow and the water to begin to pile up on itself causing the tall wave seen coming ashore as a tsunami.

Other geologic processes can cause tsunamis. Large landslides into bodies of water can cause such waves. A large rock slide dropping into a fjord in the 1960s in Alaska caused a localized tsunami-like wave. Likewise a rock slide in a lake in Italy did likewise. One area of concern are slides coming off volcanic islands. Th very tall, steep cliff faces in the Hawaiian islands are the result of large blocks cleaving off and dropping into the ocean. These cliffs are well developed on Maui and form some spectacular scenery. There are corals and other shallow marine debris found 500-800' or more up on some of the islands in Hawaii. A current interpretation is this debris was thrown up on the islands during major tsunami events caused by mega landslides of one of the older Hawaiian islands. If a mega- block were to again drop from one of the Hawaiian islands the tsunami generated could be an order of magnitude higher than the one just generated in Japan. Imagine a wave of over 100 feet impacting the west coast of the US, a truly scary thought. Luckily these events are very rare in the geologic record.


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## Richard Weatherby (Jan 3, 2008)

Anybody heard from our member Zubi? ... Yes, OK, answered in another thread.


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## Mike Reilley (Jan 2, 2008)

To see before and after photos....move the blue bar in these photos back and forth.

Tsuanmi damage


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## Steve Stockham (Jan 2, 2008)

Good Lord!! I knew it was really bad but.......wow. Everything's just....._gone! _That before and after really brings it home what happened!


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## afinegan (Jan 2, 2008)

Here is a video on the incoming tsunami, its the craziest video I have seen yet, it shows buildings floating down the street


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## markoles (Jan 2, 2008)

Cancelled my trip to Japan this morning. Probably reschedule it for later this summer.


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## Mike Reilley (Jan 2, 2008)

Posted By afinegan on 14 Mar 2011 12:33 PM 
Here is a video on the incoming tsunami, its the craziest video I have seen yet, it shows buildings floating down the street




If you watch the water rise...you'll see the water reach the bottom of the chain link fence by the stairs at 20 seconds into the video...and it tops that 3' tall (or so) chain link fence two minutes later...and you 'll note the current is growing steadily until 5 minutes...when it's 8' deep. Woof...no way you could outrun that.


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## markoles (Jan 2, 2008)

Mike,

I was thinking the same thing. What a crazy video! Those guys were lucky to be on some sort of rock outcropping, weren't they?


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## JEFF RUNGE (Jan 2, 2008)

News coming in about their power plants is not good...


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## xo18thfa (Jan 2, 2008)

NHK said today there have been over 200 aftershocks over 6.0


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## Pete Chimney (Jan 12, 2008)

Last night I was thinking a "what-if" scenario.

Imagine this earthquake happened in March 1945 and not March 2011. Might the Imperial Japanese government been so unbalanced and the resulting destruction of the Home Islands deemed to be too great to continue the war effort? 

If so might WWII have been ended by an earthquake-tsunami in Japan and not atomic weapons? Interesting idea but of course we will never know.


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## zubi (May 14, 2009)

Pete, you think too much at night (and apparently know too little - on 10 March 1945 alone, 25% of Tokyo was destroyed and burnt, 100.000 people - who were not soldiers - killed, most burnt alive - more than in Hiroshima or Nagasaki http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bombing_of_Tokyo ). Perhaps try to think of something else? Here is one suggestion http://www.google.com/crisisresponse/japanquake2011.html 
Best wishes from Tokyo, Zubi


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## zubi (May 14, 2009)

Posted By Richard Weatherby on 11 Mar 2011 07:49 PM 
Anybody heard from our member Zubi? ... Yes, OK, answered in another thread. 
Richard, most kind "thank you" for your concern! I have not seen this thread before, I am OK, although the situation is getting tense
The other thread is in Live Steam forum http://www.mylargescale.com/Community/Forums/tabid/56/aff/11/aft/119661/afv/topic/Default.aspx 
Thanks again, Zubi


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## wildbill001 (Feb 28, 2008)

Anyone heard from ituncle?

My deepest sympathies go out to all of our Japanese members. I can't begin to imagine the devastation over there and I lived through both hurricane Camille and Katrina.

Bill W


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