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Japan suffered an 8.9 magnitude earthquake a few hours ago. I'm watching the footage on Al Jazeera. It's terrifying. The worst part is watching the waves catch up with cars that are trying to outrun it.

The tsunami has done tremendous damage already. I know we have a lot of people in the Pacific area and I am very worried about you all. Please let us know if you are okay.

2011 is quickly becoming the year of natural disasters.

Just watching that wave of water sweeping across people's homes with very little pause is just terrifying. Hearing about it and actually watching it are definately two different things. Hopefully, nobody else will be killed by this, and that Japan can recover quickly.
Also, hopefully this is the last great disaster we see this year. Some small part of me says that it wont be though.

Thanks for posting this Mania. I don't watch TV much, it's good to have this stuff presented wherever possible.

Moonlost wrote:2011 is quickly becoming the year of natural disasters.

Just watching that wave of water sweeping across people's homes with very little pause is just terrifying. Hearing about it and actually watching it are definately two different things. Hopefully, nobody else will be killed by this, and that Japan can recover quickly.
Also, hopefully this is the last great disaster we see this year. Some small part of me says that it wont be though.

Thanks for posting this Mania. I don't watch TV much, it's good to have this stuff presented wherever possible.

^ This.

Oh my god.. That is absolutely horrible. I'm speechless to say the least, but my heart goes to the people out there.

Luckily Japan is one of the most earthquake-prepared countries out there... but this is still, obviously, a terrible event. I'm afraid of what the tsunami does, even though I don't live on the coast.

I've also heard that one of their nuclear reaction plants are having issues as well. I hope everyone, governement and people, can stop worrying about their wars and their stars, just for a brief moment, and help a country out.

Thanks for posting this Mania. My heart goes out to anyone affected by this.

I woke up at 6:00 hearing my dad watching the news. The footage is just terrifying... cars being swept by the hundreds into the ocean, and I can't help but wonder if there's anyone still inside them. Plus we have quite a few Japanese students at my school right now. It can't believe how horrible it's going to be for them this morning, waking up and hearing about/seeing news footage of what's happening back at home...
We're starting to see some effects here too, near Vancouver. It sounds like it's nothing serious, mostly just strong undertow and some unusually large waves. It's still scary, though.

Thats awful! poor Japan I hope they recover

My mom texted me last night at 11 to let me know there'd been an earthquake and to be prepared for a tsunami in the morning. I know a few coastal regions have been evacuated, just in case, but iirc, the tsunami isn't expected to be more than 3-4ft (at least when it reaches the coast of Washington). Small wonder, I guess, considering the devastation in Japan. Good thoughts and prayers to those in need of them.

And for those of you who either live on the coast, have relatives here, or are just curious: http://wcatwc.arh.noaa.gov/

Kamalia wrote:We're starting to see some effects here too, near Vancouver. It sounds like it's nothing serious, mostly just strong undertow and some unusually large waves. It's still scary, though.

Yes, today would not be a good day to go for a swim in the ocean. The coast here in Washington is under a tsunami advisory, but fortunately the major port cities in the area (Seattle & Tacoma WA, Vancouver & Victoria BC, Portland OR) are either sheltered by the Olympic Peninsula, Vancouver Island, or the mouth of the Columbia River. So, don't worry about us over in the Pacific Northwest, though the concern is appreciated. It's Hawaii that's going to be trouble.

Maqueda wrote:My mom texted me last night at 11 to let me know there'd been an earthquake and to be prepared for a tsunami in the morning. I know a few coastal regions have been evacuated, just in case, but iirc, the tsunami isn't expected to be more than 3-4ft (at least when it reaches the coast of Washington). Small wonder, I guess, considering the devastation in Japan. Good thoughts and prayers to those in need of them.

And for those of you who either live on the coast, have relatives here, or are just curious: http://wcatwc.arh.noaa.gov/

Yep, it's the coast that ought to be concerned, and Long Beach in particular. This 3-4 foot tsunami isn't going to be your ordinary wave; more like a 3-4 foot tide that moves as fast as a wave.

It's a good thing Japan has one of the most strict building codes when it comes to Earthquakes given their location. (I think they have an evenly strict code for Typhoons) Still, that hurts with an 8.9 too. Hati's was only a 7... something (I don't remember) and those are the aftershocks for that one. I'm pretty sure Japan should recover quickly. They're always ready for this. Although I'm curious if there's any casualties. I haven't heard of any yet.

First christchurch with like 200 or so people dead or missing(basicly dead its been 3 weeks).
Now japan. Mother nature needs a chill pill. Least japan has build their stuff for earthquakes unlike Chirstchurch that was mostly made up of old buildings.

Its kind of funny how that all of japans earthquake people are here in New zealand helping us with ours......



Allso kind of find it sad that noone cared much about ours I mean I was the only one to post about it and now japan has one and everyone cares for them. Sorry for that rant but it seems the whole internet does not care :S

cowmuflage wrote:First christchurch with like 200 or so people dead or missing(basicly dead its been 3 weeks).
Now japan. Mother nature needs a chill pill. Least japan has build their stuff for earthquakes unlike Chirstchurch that was mostly made up of old buildings.

Its kind of funny how that all of japans earthquake people are here in New zealand helping us with ours......



Allso kind of find it sad that noone cared much about ours I mean I was the only one to post about it and now japan has one and everyone cares for them.

Yeah the only coverage I saw on the one where you live was that thread you posted about it o.o nothing on the news in the states about it when it was happening that I saw.

cowmuflage wrote: Allso kind of find it sad that noone cared much about ours I mean I was the only one to post about it and now japan has one and everyone cares for them. Sorry for that rant but it seems the whole internet does not care :S

I'm sorry I completely missed your topic to be honest. I only heard about the New Zealand quake through word of mouth days later (I am really diconnected from the news...)
It's not a very good excuse, I admit. My heart goes to those still rebuilding over in NZ, as to any aussies still recovering from the flood and to the Japanese now too. Not to mention any others who may be affected by this tsunami.

No prob its just getting to me. I mean everyone I know whos a non new zealander are all talking about the japan one but when ours hit no one was.

Sorry for that rant all this is just building up inside me.

Aleu wrote:It's a good thing Japan has one of the most strict building codes when it comes to Earthquakes given their location. (I think they have an evenly strict code for Typhoons) Still, that hurts with an 8.9 too. Hati's was only a 7... something (I don't remember) and those are the aftershocks for that one. I'm pretty sure Japan should recover quickly. They're always ready for this. Although I'm curious if there's any casualties. I haven't heard of any yet.

I think we're looking at casualties in the hundreds. For those who don't know, the earthquake's epicenter was just off the coast of Japan, with the earthquake being felt hard in the nearby cities. But, with their building code, I doubt that the earthquake itself took many casualties, if any. It was the tsunamis that followed that will be responsible for the casualty estimates that we'll be hearing over the next few days. This was pretty darn close to a worst-case scenario for Japan; it's pretty hard to evacuate an area due to an impending tsunami when the earthquake that caused the tsunami was so close that the soon-to-be devastated areas were shaken hard right before the massive waves arrived.

cowmuflage wrote:First christchurch with like 200 or so people dead or missing(basicly dead its been 3 weeks).
Now japan. Mother nature needs a chill pill. Least japan has build their stuff for earthquakes unlike Chirstchurch that was mostly made up of old buildings.

Its kind of funny how that all of japans earthquake people are here in New zealand helping us with ours......



Allso kind of find it sad that noone cared much about ours I mean I was the only one to post about it and now japan has one and everyone cares for them. Sorry for that rant but it seems the whole internet does not care :S

I did see some coverage of Christchurch, which is kinda remarkable in itself given how little news I catch nowadays. What I did hear is that not only were a whole lot of buildings reduced to rubble, but that some of the land itself is being deemed unsafe for rebuilding upon.

But, by comparison, we're seeing almost non-stop coverage of Japan's earthquake & tsunami. Part of that is due to the fact that we have tsunami advisories in effect, but I won't deny that the mass media here couldn't care less about Australia & NZ right now. What more can I say?

Cialbi wrote: But, by comparison, we're seeing almost non-stop coverage of Japan's earthquake & tsunami. Part of that is due to the fact that we have tsunami advisories in effect, but I won't deny that the mass media here couldn't care less about Australia & NZ right now. What more can I say?

Yeah. =/ The coverage from Japan has been constant, and there's so much going on. They're in big trouble with one of their nuclear reactors at the moment as well. I was so hoping nothing would happen and they'd get it fixed quickly, but right now the news coming in are a little terrifying.

I turned CNN on last night & caught footage, apparently live, of one of the tsunami waves hitting. Unbelievable.

The CA / OR border area on the coast is the only part of the US that appears to have taken any real damage but compared to the Sendai area in Japan what we got was nothing.

One of the reasons I wanted to post here is that I rarely catch news myself, unless someone points it out to me. I heard about Christchurch here and I'm certain I wouldn't have otherwise.