Another Massive Earthquake in Japan

danniemcq

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-20638696

BBC wrote:

tsunami warning has been issued after a 7.3 magnitude earthquake struck off Japan's eastern coast.

The epicentre of the quake was about 245km (150 miles) south-east of Kamiashi at a depth of about 36km, the US Geological Survey said.

The quake was felt in the capital Tokyo, media report.

The tsunami warning was issued for the coast of Miyagi Prefecture, which was hit by a devastating earthquake and tsunami in March 2011.

The US-based Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said there was no threat to the wider Pacific Ocean but that a tsunami could be generated that was destructive for local coastlines.

Warnings of the tsunami height varied between 50cm and 2m.

hopefully its not as bad as last one, granted its not as bad on the richter scale (big one was 9) so fingers crossed

ASOT

Goodnight sweet prince

B.A._Baracus

I'm just watching NHK World. Says a tsuami of 1 meter has hit.

El Guapo!

They just can't get a break. Hopefully nobody gets hurt.

Spiritual

And we are constantly moaning in this country, granted some of it is merited but we have it good. At least for now.

Hope all are safe.

Latchy

Hope it isn't another big one ...those people have suffered enough .

Ush1

Are they totally sure it's not Godzilla?

NeonCookies

I'm in Tokyo. It was the biggest earthquake I've felt here (been here for 10 months) and it spooked people a little because it went on so long. Managers were opening emergency exits and we were all standing by in case we had to get out of the building. Luckily, it didn't come to that. The building swayed a lot though. It must have been bad further north.

Reports of a 1m tsunami further up the coast, but thankfully no reports of fatalities / serious damage. Japanese news website reporting no damage of the nuclear plants, thank god. It's only a matter of time before the big one hits Tokyo though..and everyone here is worried.

ghogie91

NeonCookies wrote: »

I'm in Tokyo. It was the biggest earthquake I've felt here (been here for 10 months) and it spooked people a little because it went on so long. Managers were opening emergency exits and we were all standing by in case we had to get out of the building. Luckily, it didn't come to that. The building swayed a lot though. It must have been bad further north.

Reports of a 1m tsunami further up the coast, but thankfully no reports of fatalities / serious damage. Japanese news website reporting no damage of the nuclear plants, thank god. It's only a matter of time before the big one hits Tokyo though..and everyone here is worried.

Neon if its only a matter of time.... just get out of there

doubledown

I was in Miyagi Prefecture for three weeks last year and there were numerous tremors almost every day. They were not big quakes but it's still a very, very unsettling feeling. I can't imagine what a 7.3 feels like. My wife and I visited some of the areas that had been worst affected by the tsunami and the scale of the destruction was unbelievable.

NeonCookies - stay safe.

Ush1 - You're hilarious. Did you write that yourself?

NeonCookies

ghogie91 wrote: »

Neon if its only a matter of time.... just get out of there

Leaving in February, flight booked. I couldn't live here forever with the threat.

Ush1

doubledown wrote: »

Ush1 - You're hilarious. Did you write that yourself?

Yep!

Rasmus

@NeonCookies, how is it in Yokohama?

NeonCookies

Rasmus wrote: »

@NeonCookies, how is it in Yokohama?

Yokohama lies just south of Tokyo, so the shaking wouldn't have been any worse than here. There were no tsunami warnings for Tokyo or south of that, so Yokohama is ok. They've now canceled any existing tsunami warnings for coasts further north, so any waves that have hit should be the extent of it.

doubledown wrote: »

I was in Miyagi Prefecture for three weeks last year and there were numerous tremors almost every day. They were not big quakes but it's still a very, very unsettling feeling.

Yea small ones are so common...and especially since the big one last year, most people stop for a moment to see if it'll get stronger (apparently the one last year started small and just kept growing..hence the worry this time because it went on for so long) I know I hold my breath when I feel one, until it fades away. It's very unsettling and very stressful.

Dodge

NeonCookies wrote: »

It's only a matter of time before the big one hits Tokyo though..and everyone here is worried.

Thats the most ominous line I've ever read on boards. wow

NeonCookies

Dodge wrote: »

Thats the most ominous line I've ever read on boards. wow

I know Unfortunately it's very true... Earlier this year, research was released. Even taking on board the unreliability of earthquake prediction, the probability results are terrifying: http://edition.cnn.com/2012/01/24/world/asia/tokyo-quake-forecast/index.html

From the article:

The University of Tokyo's Earthquake Research Institute predicts there is a 70% probability that the capital's metropolitan area will experience a magnitude-7 quake within four years and a 98% probability within the next 30 years.

danniemcq

NeonCookies wrote: »

I know Unfortunately it's very true... Earlier this year, research was released. Even taking on board the unreliability of earthquake prediction, the probability results are terrifying: http://edition.cnn.com/2012/01/24/world/asia/tokyo-quake-forecast/index.html

From the article:

The University of Tokyo's Earthquake Research Institute predicts there is a 70% probability that the capital's metropolitan area will experience a magnitude-7 quake within four years and a 98% probability within the next 30 years.

jesus christ!

thats nuts. I hope science is wrong for a change

daelight

NeonCookies wrote: »

I know Unfortunately it's very true... Earlier this year, research was released. Even taking on board the unreliability of earthquake prediction, the probability results are terrifying: http://edition.cnn.com/2012/01/24/world/asia/tokyo-quake-forecast/index.html

From the article:

The University of Tokyo's Earthquake Research Institute predicts there is a 70% probability that the capital's metropolitan area will experience a magnitude-7 quake within four years and a 98% probability within the next 30 years.

Please don't freak out about guesswork from institutions whose purpose in life is to stay relevant and funded for further make believe "research".

Solair

Japan, unlike many other earthquake prone areas, has a very long written history too. So, it's not very difficult to see that really horrendous quakes and tsunami hit quite frequently.

In modern times it's also one of the best researched seismically active zones in the world.

I don't think these guys are just trying to get research funding. The Japanese pour huge amounts of funding into seismic research, regardless of what reports come out as it's almost an inevitability that something will happen there sometime.

I really don't think they have to do anything to 'stay relevant'.

I don't think many people would suggest that the University of Tokyo's seismologists work in an area of make-believe. What they do is VERY VERY real.

They have more sensors in the ground than anywhere else, they've vast amounts of data and all the plate movements are mathematically modeled. So, while their predictions are still not as accurate as one would like, they're far from guess work.

That being said, they actually didn't predict the recent quakes properly at all.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2011/apr/13/flawed-earthquake-predictions-fukushima

NeonCookies

daelight wrote: »

Please don't freak out about guesswork from institutions whose purpose in life is to stay relevant and funded for further make believe "research".

Most people aren't "freaking out", if they were nobody would be left living in Japan! It's a fact of life here. Yes, people are scared (especially after last year) and unfortunately being scared may be the best way to be. After the earthquake on Friday, two of my students told me they were updating their emergency kits in preparation for a big one hitting Tokyo. Everyone here knows it's not if, but when.

I completely agree with Solair. Earthquake prediction is far from even being close to an exact science, but big money is put into it here. They're trying to save lives. The predictions are based on years of studying, years of data. If they predicted things too often, people would get complacent and not listen to the predictions. So, if they announced these results they're not pulling it out of thin air. They don't pretend to have all the answers, and whether it happens or not remains to be seen, but I'd rather know it was a possibility and be prepared than live in ignorance.

(Obviously here I'm referring to government funded, respected seismologists. Not the work of individuals running prediction websites who seem to pull predictions out of nowhere)

CruelCoin

Japans new national anthem:

"under the seaaa"