Tsunami in Japan, 3/11/11

[Chuckeh]

News: Well on 3/11/11 in Japan there was a big earthquake as you said! The Earthquake is the 2nd biggest earthquake. Also if you want to see what happened in Japan..
Click this!
http://www.youtube.com/aljazeeraenglish?feature=ticker
The news person got the news about Japan. Also there was a Tsunami in Japan also in Hawaii, Alaska, and the coast border around California. Hawaii this morning got hit at 8:30am and California was hit this morning if i was watching it. Alaska well they um got hit this afternoon!

[NorthernLady]

News: Well on 3/11/11 in Japan there was a big earthquake as you said! The Earthquake is the 2nd biggest earthquake. Also if you want to see what happened in Japan..
Click this!
http://www.youtube.com/aljazeeraenglish?feature=ticker
The news person got the news about Japan. Also there was a Tsunami in Japan also in Hawaii, Alaska, and the coast border around California. Hawaii this morning got hit at 8:30am and California was hit this morning if i was watching it. Alaska well they um got hit this afternoon!

I am not sure of your time zone.

I have seen my local news station reported that nothing was reported damage. Since there's so many news about Japan, and people here, I don't feel like saying anything local news haven't said about then. (We were hit just as I was falling asleep, apparently). I live no where near such damage. However, I am near Castle Mountain Fault, almost right on top of it.

Logisticlly, this would be massive. Not only earthquake damage, but also the water damage caused by the Tsunami, which would be something that would even make it harder to find and search people.

[TxCat]

I have seen my local news station reported that nothing was reported damage. Since there's so many news about Japan, and people here, I don't feel like saying anything local news haven't said about then. (We were hit just as I was falling asleep, apparently). I live no where near such damage. However, I am near Castle Mountain Fault, almost right on top of it.

Logisticlly, this would be massive. Not only earthquake damage, but also the water damage caused by the Tsunami, which would be something that would even make it harder to find and search people.[/color]

I am confused about what you are questioning here. That Japan was hit by a 9.8 earthquake has been established. That the earthquake resulted in tsunamis has also been established. As others more scientific than I have pointed out, however, the extent of tsunamis and the damage varies with several factors. The places which were under warning (here in the US at least) are now reporting in and saying that so far the waves have not been as bad as expected, though they were higher than usual. That does not mean the danger has passed or that there could not be higher waves.

In part it depends upon how fast the wave is traveling, how long it was out over open water, and at what angle it hits a land mass. Small islands with gentle slopes, according to one of my geologist friends in Australia, actually fare better than larger landmasses because the waves kind of roll over them rather than smashing up against them and being amplified.

Our local news (I'm here in Florida) has covered very little if anything happening in the rest of the US. I had to find an international newspaper online and a California newspaper online in order to get a damage report. There WAS damage:

Japan's Quake Leads to Damage on West Coast

This is listed as breaking news, meaning it is still in progress. The article stamp says it was updated at approximately 930 PM PST.

Surging water generated from the powerful earthquake off Japan's coast hit the California coastline Friday morning, capsizing boats, splintering docks and panicking thousands of seaside spectators from Eureka to Santa Cruz who had expected a mild amusement but were sent scrambling to higher ground.

One person taking pictures along the Klamath River in far northern California was swept away and still missing Friday afternoon, while emergency crews in Oregon rescued a handful of others from the water.

Gov. Jerry Brown on Friday declared a state of emergency for Del Norte, Humboldt, San Mateo and Santa Cruz counties.

In the Bay Area, Santa Cruz Harbor took the worst of the tsunami, where $15 million in damage was caused by two separate series of thick, rolling surges, the first about 8 a.m., and the second at 11:15 a.m.

That's damage to commercial boats as well as pleasure boats, and governors don't generally declare a state of emergency unless there really IS one. My guess is we won't know just how bad or how much the damage was until things have settled down. Since there was relatively little loss of life and no injuries reported yet, the focus will still be on Japan.

Both of its reactors have destabilized now:

Damage at Two Nuclear Plants Prompts Evacuations

Keep it factual, people, and don't panic. The evacuations are a precaution only. Remember that the Japanese people have very legitimate reasons to fear radiation and are appropriately cautious regarding the technology. Also, these are older first generation reactors. That means that while they are less safe than modern reactors, it is also easier to avert a disaster.

Simple water cools them down and they're working on getting appropriate batteries to the generators to keep the water circulating and to put more water into the cores.

Meanwhile, although Alaska was included in the tsunami warning, it doesn't appear to have been hit at all.

Reports are mixed from Hawaii. Some papers say that they took little damage; others say the various islands were hit hard. A this one comes from there directly, I'm more inclined to believe their own damage assessment:

Hawaii County Surveys Tsunami Damage, Kona hit Hard

The tsunami resulted in no deaths in the County of Hawai‘i, although there was one injury. A County Department of Public Works Highways Division employee was found unconscious early Friday morning with a head injury, and was taken to Kona Community Hospital for observation.

There's an extensive list of the tsunami damage on the end of that article as well as raw video. It looks to me like repairs could run into the millions.

For those who are interested, although I haven't heard from my friend in California who is in the Coast Guard, I now have reason to believe that he's safe but busy. I found this article:

Coast Guard Assists with Hawaii Tsunami Threats

If I had to guess, I'd think he's been mobilized either to help at home or out there. His is one of the units specially trained for water disasters.

I am still waiting to hear from friends stationed in Japan and from friends who live there. They were not quite near the epicenter but close enough that I'm still worried about them.

[Synchronized]

I was keeping updated yesterday morning as the tsunami was happening. I feel terrible for Japan, and most of the extent of their major damages seems to be water from the tsunami and landslides knocked loose by the quake aside from the oil fire and reactor shutdowns(which aren't as widespread, which is what I mostly mean by major damage), so I'm hopeful for their recovery-- they're one of the best prepared countries for disasters like this. If y'all would like to help, I think the Red Cross is taking donations for Japan as well as countries affected by the tsunami? I'll be donating once I manage to get some money.

On another note, though, people's attitudes towards the disaster absolutely sickens me. Hundreds of people on facebook and other such websites are saying things like "Fuck Japan, this is revenge for Pearl Harbor!" etc etc except for the fact that, you know, the United States did about 100x more damage to them than they did bombing us, what with that atom bomb and all. I know it's hard for people to grasp the concept of decency, but come on.

[mulan]

Japan is on the ring of fire, right ????

http://www.asianinfrastructure.com/medi ... f_Fire.png

[ElementalNovel]

@Sync: I know. So many people have been complete @$$holes about all of this. I've been pointing out that, "They already had two nukes dropped on them. Now a nuclear plant might explode on them? Come on, fate, don't be so cruel." The nuclear plant, it seems, has been leaking radiation and at least three people have been affected as yet. The land there, around the plant, will now be unusable due to radiation and the wind is blowing just right to wash some of that nuclear crap in the direction of the US.

Japan is an island nation. If that plant fully explodes, it'll affect the ocean and therefore the world.

I keep seeing the news stories with the people standing on buildings and gathering in safe places. I don't think I've spoken unless to say, "Those poor people," in hours. This is heartbreaking.

A nice story, though: This guy and his buddies were running from the nuclear plant and some industrial rain was falling on them, (that's broken glass and bits of building, for those not familiar with the term), and the one guy got a chunk of glass in his foot. He paused to pick it out, and his buddies ran on..... and were swept away by a massive wave a block away. Had the guy not stopped, he would have been killed. He's safe with his wife now.

[wolfeyedangel]

Japan is on the ring of fire, right ????

http://www.asianinfrastructure.com/medi ... f_Fire.png

Yes, Japan is on the ring of fire but that image is woefully simplified for the geology of the Pacific plates and the Pacific Rim. They took it from the USGS website and it only marks the long subduction zones. It missest he Juan de Fuca plate that is currently subducting under Washington/Orogon right now (has been for quite some time, geologically speaking) This is a slightly better Diagram of the plates: http://library.thinkquest.org/J001393/v ... g_fire.gif

The USGS's website on plate techtonics should help explain what's going on Geologically: http://pubs.usgs.gov/gip/dynamic/understanding.html

If anyone has any questions about the geology of the regions ASK I am a geologist if your question is specific enough I don't know the answer I can definitely find it. What's happening is not a mysterious process

@syncronized: If you can find a link to the Red cross donations, feel free to post it here. Unfortunately there are ignorant people who will insist on loudly making fools of themselves, usually at the worst possible moment.

~Wolf

[Synchronized]

@syncronized: If you can find a link to the Red cross donations, feel free to post it here. Unfortunately there are ignorant people who will insist on loudly making fools of themselves, usually at the worst possible moment.

~Wolf

Of course; Here's the link to the donations page. After you click what kind of donation you want, there will be a list of choices for what specific thing you may want to help. Japan Earthquake and Pacific Tsunami is the first one.

[TxCat]

Some updated news links:

Japan Scrambles to Avert Nuclear Disaster

I know some reports on CNN stated that people were testing positive for radiation poisoning, but I wasn't able to find any links to independently confirm that or any statistics on who those people were (for instance, if they were citizens or people actively working on the plant or working near the plant; it makes a difference in terms of worrying whether or not we have a global problem).

According to the information there, the actual core has not been breached but it did overheat (which is bad enough). What exploded was the outer containment wall. While that is a loss, it is still NOT a nuclear explosion and there's a very good chance the seawater and boron will keep it from happening.

Here's the New York Times assessment:

Japan Nuclear Emergency Worst in Decades

The article has some excellent information on how such disasters are rated and what potential problems are being addressed.

Now this is interesting:

Japan Earthquake Shortened Earth Days

The massive earthquake that struck northeast Japan Friday (March 11) has shortened the length Earth's day by a fraction and shifted how the planet's mass is distributed.

A new analysis of the 8.9-magnitude earthquake in Japan has found that the intense temblor has accelerated Earth's spin, shortening the length of the 24-hour day by 1.8 microseconds, according to geophysicist Richard Gross at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif.

Also, Crescent City in Oregon suffered damage:

Another Tsunami Jars Crescent City

The last tsunami to hit that city occurred in the mid 1960s.

Death Toll, Nuclear Meltdown Worry Japan

This article states they are assuming the worst but emphasizes that they do not believe a meltdown has occurred yet and, because of that, that it may be prevented. It also states that the radiation released is not high enough to be harmful to human health.

At Least 160 People Tested for Radiation

They were tested for it as a precaution. No one tested lethally positive. One person out of the entire group of refugees needed decontamination. Eight more may need decontamination. These were refugees in close proximity to the reactor who were exposed while waiting for evacuation. While none of this is good news, it's important to keep things in perspective. As of now, the reactors do not pose a global danger.

Two articles explaining how a reactor works and what happened:

How a Reactor Works

What has the quake done to the reactors?

Finally, of geological interest:

Quake Moved Japan Coast Eight Feet

[Corvidae]

There was a team from Hawaii at the robotics competition I was at these past few days; everyone was wondering what they were going to do if they came back and found their homes tsunami'ed. I think one of their mentors actually left to go back to Honolulu so that he could be with his family...