8.9 Earthquake - Major Tsunami in Northern Japan

[Godfather]

Thoughts and prayers for the people in Japan. This is huge

In various locations along Japan's coast, TV footage showed severe flooding, with dozens of cars, boats and even buildings being carried along by waters. A large ship swept away by the tsunami rammed directly into a breakwater in Kesennuma city in Miyagi prefecture, according to footage on public broadcaster NHK.

Officials were trying to assess possible damage from the quake but had no immediate details.

The quake that struck 2:46 p.m. local time was followed by a series of aftershocks, including a 7.4-magnitude one about 30 minutes later. The US Geological Survey upgraded the strength of the first quake to a magnitude 8.9.

The meteorological agency issued a tsunami warning for the entire Pacific coast of Japan. National broadcaster NHK was warning those near the coast to get to safer ground.

The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center in Hawaii said a tsunami warning was in effect for Japan, Russia, Marcus Island and the Northern Marianas. A tsunami watch has been issued for Guam, Taiwan, the Philippines, Indonesia and the U.S. state of Hawaii.

The quake struck at a depth of six miles, about 80 miles off the eastern coast, the agency said. The area is 240 miles northeast of Tokyo.

In downtown Tokyo, large buildings shook violently and workers poured into the street for safety. TV footage showed a large building on fire and bellowing smoke in the Odaiba district of Tokyo.

In central Tokyo, trains were stopped and passengers walked along the tracks to platforms.

Footage on NHK from their Sendai office showed employees stumbling around and books and papers crashing from desks.

Several quakes had hit the same region in recent days, including a 7.3 magnitude one on Wednesday.

Thirty minutes after the quake, tall buildings were still swaying in Tokyo and mobile phone networks were not working. Japan's Coast Guard has set up task force and officials are standing by for emergency contingencies, Coast Guard official Yosuke Oi said.

"I'm afraid we'll soon find out about damages, since the quake was so strong," he said

[samarchepas]

Scary stuff...I hope there won't be many casualties (OMG seeing reports on CNN )

[Godfather]

Yeah the reports on CNN

All the reporting is quite sketchy still

[Foxdana]

Mother Nature is in a bitch of a mood at the moment!

I hope there is minimal loss of life from this!

[samarchepas]

I'm hoping the same...but seeing what I'm seeing...very unlikely

[Godfather]

Agreed, there are going to be well over a thousand dead if not far far more from what I'm reading already


This is the 7th largest earthquake ever recorded.... it's being called the Sendai earthquake and tsunami already.

Tsunami warnings in half a dozen other countries now as well, including Hawaii. Hopefully those areas get off easy comparatively.

[samarchepas]

its 8.9...Haiti was 7.0.

[Godfather]

I've seen one video of the tsunami coming over a farming area... the Tsunami has burning debris in it. It's terrifying... and as it's getting closer to roads you can see cars trying to race away. It's unbelievable.

The footage here is going to be incredible...

[Godfather]

its 8.9...Haiti was 7.0.

Yep... the 2004 boxing day tsunami was a 9.2. Fairly similar

[samarchepas]

It is...its 4 A.M here...can't sleep looking at this (seeing a Tsunami right now...OMG )

[AntZ]

I'm watching the new film on NHK Japan, those mud waves swallowing those farms and buildings are surreal!!

[Godfather]

Thank God Japan is so much more industrialized than the Haiti quake that killed so many... this earthquake had almost 100 times more shake amplitude (remembering that this was almost a 9, and Haiti was a 7... each point being 10 times more shake than the last).

Energy wise, it's 1000 times more energy than a 7 (31.7 times energy release)

[AntZ]

With the quake that hit NZ a couple weeks ago, the violent volcanic activity in Hawaii this week, and now this! I wonder if this is the start of the long predicted "Ring of Fire" shake up? Is California or other west coast areas next?

[samarchepas]

The earthquake itself won't do that much damage...its the Tsunamis it provokes that is bad.

[AntZ]

The earthquake itself won't do that much damage...its the Tsunamis it provokes that is bad.

Tsunamis do devastating damage, but quakes frequently do unseen damage that's not known for days, weeks, or months. After the Northridge quake in L.A., they were condemning buildings, and whole neighborhoods due to structural damage months later!