Massive Earthquake In Japan Triggers Tsunamis

[Shapley]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/mar/11/japan-earthquake-miyagi-tsunami-warning8.8 Magnitude Earthquake Strikes Japan[/url]

Very sad. My prayers are with them.

[Haggis@wk]

The videos have been horrific and it makes one ask a scary question. If this amount of damage can happen to a country that is probably the best prepared country in the world what does this say about someone like us who is barely prepared to handle a 0.1 earthquake?

[Schmeelkie]

Haven't checked the reports yet, but I'm hoping the tsunami didn't hit Hawaii too hard - thinking about GCR and family... Our west coast seemed to have ample warning, though I'm sure some idiot is going to have gotten hurt or killed because they didn't take warnings seriously.

A reporter in Tokoyo said on the weather channel that they did get a warning - even 188 miles from the epicenter, the warning was only 30 seconds, but it had people evacuating or out of buildings entirely before the second, bigger, tremor hit there.

You really just can't do much about an earthquake at 8 or greater magnitude - just amazed by the shots of the road just split down the middle - 4ft drop...the cars bobbing in the flood waters...massive debris in the streets...just devastating!

[Shapley]

Yes, if it had hit in the middle of the night, or closer inland, The loss of life may have been much higher. The Tsunami was reportedly moving across the Pacific at about 500 MPH. It hit Hawaii, but was reportedly not as high as expected, but the warning are still in place as they expect more waves throughtout the day.

I think GCR is near Pearl Harbour, but I don't know if it's near sea-level. Pearl Harbour was surrounded by swamps when it was first developed, so there is a lot of low-lying ground in the area. It is on the South Side of the island, which protects it from the direct impact of the Tsunami, whose approach is from the Northwest.

[Schmeelkie]

Pumpkin couldn't keep his eyes off the coverage on the weather channel this morning - only stopped when they finally went to commercial a few min before his bus arrived - they had been commercial-free from when we turned on at 7:15am until just before 9 (tsunami was supposed to hit Hawaii about 8:07am our time). Though had to explain that tsunamis could happen and still be dangerous at low levels. In his mind a tsunami is 100ft high - the Japanese could tell him that 20 feet was sufficient for massive damage. Pretty impressive learning experience for him. Think we'll likely have the TV on for a bit after school...

[jamiebk]

horrible...simply horrible event. My heart goes out to the Japanese people.

[Giant Communist Robot]

Haven't checked the reports yet, but I'm hoping the tsunami didn't hit Hawaii too hard - thinking about GCR and family

All is well here, thank you. I didn't know Schmeelkie knew who I was.

Aiea is just inland of Pearl Harbor, and we live in the foothills of the nearby mountains. Since Pearl Harbor is nearly landlocked and we are some elevation above I think we are probably safe from most tsunamis. I haven't seen many news reports yet; as far as I know damage is limited to three boat docks (with 100 boats) breaking loose. You never know what to expect when these things happen. All night the warning sirens were going off. At 3 a.m. we got a call from our health insurance company.

[piqaboo]

OT reports that Dai's son is posting on facebook, so apparently he & his wife came thru ok.

[dai bread]

No worries there. They're on the other side of the island and never felt a thing.

[Shapley]

I sent Mrs. Presenter an e-mail, but haven't heard back from her as of yet. Not surprising, of course, given that it's very early morning over there. Hopefully, she'll have the opportunity to drop us a note.

[Haggis@wk]

I spoke to a friend at the USAF Air Mobility Command's operations center at Scott AFB, IL and he advised that they are lining up every available heavy lift airframe for the expected request for immediate assistance from the Japanese.

Yokota Air Base, a USAF base in Japan has been open to commercial aircraft that was unable to land at Narita airport.

I suspect in the coming days Yokota will become vital to the air bridge that is now being put into place.

Yokota is an AMC base so that means they already have the people on the ground (Tanker AirLift Control Element) to immediately start organizing the air lift efforts.

It is an important base any time but even more so now. The fact that the base's primary function is airlift is a HUGE advantage. There is no "learning curve" normally encountered when working with people unfamiliar with the workings of disaster airlift (Haiti comes to mind)

In addition, they already have the specialized unloading equipment on hand. Usually the first 2-4 aircraft has to bring in the equipment and people.

This is a terrible disaster but it happened in what is the most prepared country in the world with massive emergency infrastructure.

God alone knows what a disaster of this magnitude would cause in the U.S.

Our USAF is the only air force in the world that can handle these kinds of disasters which means, as in Haiti, our men and women if the USAF will be moving literally tons of supplies in a very short amount of time.

God bless them

[Shapley]

I heard from Mrs. Presenter. She said they are all fine. All public transportation and most communications were out in the immediate aftermath of the earthquake in Tokyo, which is about 400 Km from the epicenter. She says she was able to contact her family and all are safe. They are bracing for aftershocks.

[Haggis@wk]

Apparently Tokyo got 60-80 seconds warning of the incomong shockwave. http://cosmiclog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/20 ... rks-or-not As the article points out, 60 - 80 seconds is enough to turn off the gas, get off the road, stop a surgery, get off an elevator, etc. The warning are blared everywhere. The video's a little erie as you hear a canned countdown in Japanese and then the room starts shaking.

Misawa AB is a USAF base at the far northern tip of Japan and was close to the epicenter. I got a report last night that all the building and homes were sound and power was cut off. Misawa's one of those 50's era bases that had central steam heat generation piped to every building and home on base. We had them in England and they were horrible. The one in Misawa has managed to stay online but of course the pipes have broken everywhere leaving a lot of homes and buildings without heat. Fortunantely, they are resourceful and have lots of mobile generators and people who know what to do with them.

The base is only 2 miles inland so tsunami was a major concern at the beginning of the ordeal but they came through unscathed.

Misawa's home to the 35th Fighter Wing which was the 35th Tactical Fighter Wing I went to war with in 1990 and the Wing I was assigned to as the Special Agent in Charge from 1986 until the base was deactivated in 1992. so I feel a kinship with those folks.

I learned that Misawa's still without power and has limited steam for heating. The water is potable on base but not off, so they are moving off base families onto the base. The chow halls are only feeding the troops on MREs (that'll make them happy)

Remarkably, all buildings, including the housing towers, have been inspected and are considered safe for occupancy, although they are without power and in some cases heat. All families on base live in tower building or tri-plex townhouses so living is pretty close together.

There's approximately 5,200 G.I.s and figure 2-3,000 dependents.

When this is all over the Wing Commander will get a medal (Legion of Merit, probably deserved) but the real recovery wil come from a cohesive military unit that works together to help their familes survive while ensuring that the mission ready aircraft are prepared to launch.

[Haggis@wk]

Misawa Air Base very near the epicenter and probably the hardest hit of all U.S. Military instalations in Japan.

[piqaboo]

That's two times you've posted that you dont think the US would do well in a similar circumstance.
Is this comparision to NOLA and Katrina recovery, or ?

[Haggis@wk]

I think the building codes in certain locations in the U.S. are too lax or are allowed waivers. I'm not sure we can get as committed as the Japanese. They are fanatic about preparations for earthquakes and tsunami. That's probably an understandable attitude since Japan knows that earthquakes are inevitable. Americans know we have earthquakes but the disastrous ones with massive loss of life have mostly been in Japan.

If we had a San Francisco quake every 2-3 decades maybe we'd be more attentive. The big secret is the fact that the New Madrid fault is primed and a repeat of the earlier one will cause massive loss of life in a part of the country that mostly has no earthquake building codes.


Look at where people are building in Seattle, smack dab in the middle of the last volcano ash flow. We tend to think we can

tech

our way out of anything and I think that's a poor substitute for better planning.

[Schmeelkie]

After Katrina, I remember seeing a report of a 'hurricane proof' house - mostly dome shaped. But, in typical American fashion, it's not like everyone is running out to build like that. It's amazing how we live through something like that, but a year or so later, we aren't working as hard as we should to protect ourselves. Heck, up north here we only get the occasional ice storm, but you'd think they'd bury more power lines and folks wouldn't plant trees right next to their houses, etc.

Of course, the awful thing about Japan is that they are the most prepared for this kind of thing and still have over 2,400 dead. But then, compared to the tsunami in the Indian ocean a few years ago - 230,000 dead, Japan got off easy. I can't even begin to imagine what it's like over there right now.... sent $$ to the Red Cross today...

[Haggis@wk]

JERRY POURNELLE on Japanese Reactors and the Worst Case.

“The important lesson from Japan is that we took obsolete reactors with old designs and safety features, and subjected them to a 9.0 quake and a very large tsunami, and the damage to the planet is an unfortunate but hardly decisive event. It is now time to stop worrying about this mess until things settle and we can see precisely what we have learned, and factor that into the next generation designs. Note that almost everywhere in the world we are building reactors with much better design and far better safety features than those being destroyed now. Concentration on how awful is the nuclear mess takes our attention off the economic and human disasters from the earthquake and tsunami.”

Remember the fears about the clouds of radioactive material in the Chernobyl disaster that supposedly drifed over Europe? No one was ever hurt. Of the 1,000 people at ground zero who developed cancer, 998 survived. And lets not forget that Chernobyl happened in a country that was incapaable of manufacturing a decent pair of shoes, it was inevitable.

This situation in Japan is being manipulated by the MSM to concentrate on the spectacular rather than reporting and providing attention to the mundane but more important stories. People are hungry, freezing, thirsty and dying now, today. THAT'S the story and it's not being addressed.

Lets put the fear mongering on the back burner and worry about it in the 10-20 years it will take to become a problem, if ever.

[dai bread]

JERRY POURNELLE on Japanese Reactors and the Worst Case.

“The important lesson from Japan is that we took obsolete reactors with old designs and safety features, and subjected them to a 9.0 quake and a very large tsunami, and the damage to the planet is an unfortunate but hardly decisive event. It is now time to stop worrying about this mess until things settle and we can see precisely what we have learned, and factor that into the next generation designs. Note that almost everywhere in the world we are building reactors with much better design and far better safety features than those being destroyed now. Concentration on how awful is the nuclear mess takes our attention off the economic and human disasters from the earthquake and tsunami.”

Remember the fears about the clouds of radioactive material in the Chernobyl disaster that supposedly drifted over Europe? No one was ever hurt. Of the 1,000 people at ground zero who developed cancer, 998 survived. And lets not forget that Chernobyl happened in a country that was incapable of manufacturing a decent pair of shoes, it was inevitable.

This situation in Japan is being manipulated by the MSM to concentrate on the spectacular rather than reporting and providing attention to the mundane but more important stories. People are hungry, freezing, thirsty and dying now, today. THAT'S the story and it's not being addressed.

Lets put the fear mongering on the back burner and worry about it in the 10-20 years it will take to become a problem, if ever.

Hear, hear!

I'm still waiting for some intrepid journalist to visit Chernobyl and report on the wildlife that's been there since Day 2 if not Day 1. Not to mention the people who refused to leave their homes for very long, and have been there since Day 3 or 4.

[Shapley]

Chernobyl Today

I'm afraid Chernobyl will tomorrows Angkor.