Japan Earthquake News

[Rolex]

It's 8 am, Saturday in Japan. The weather is beautiful, but Japan is a mess.

- Kyodo news ( a print news agency) reported last night on their English website that 88,000 people were missing. I don't know the veracity of that. I've not seen anything similar reported on TV today.

- TV news is reporting only that "over 1,000" are confirmed dead. I don't think anyone can estimate the total casualties yet.

- I've spoken to a friend in Yokohama and all the power was restored last night. There was little damage (it's further south), so I wouldn't worry about relatives there, since no casualties reported. The phone system is jammed, so don't expect calls.

- I just watched a report on the Fukushima plant. They are going to vent (it's filtered) to relieve some pressure, and there will be a small amount to radiation released in the process, but it's an insignificant amount. The evacuation is a precaution, not a necessity. There are more important problems and it's not being reported as something people need to panic about.

- The quakes have been relentless. We didn't get any sleep, as we were awakened throughout the night with quakes, and there have been three so far as I write this.

I hate earthquakes. Every quake/aftershock we've had since the big ones yesterday are as big as anything I've felt before in Japan. Every time another quake starts, and the house and furniture begin to rattle and shake, you don't know if this is going to be another big one, or a lesser one than yesterday.

[soda72]

stay safe rolex...

 

[TracerX]

Holy crap Rolex.  Are you to the point yet where you just leave all the pictures, lamps and CD cases on the floor because you are tired of picking them up?  Thank you for giving us a direct report, and I wish you and everyone in Japan a speedy recovery and the best possible luck in finding the hurt and injured.

Gombatte ne?

[MarineUS]

razy to think that Japan will never look the same as in the shore line moved inland and that it will be that way forever....Crazy stuff. I witnessed the natural terraform of Japan live (on the webcams put up on buildings).....cool. (kinda lol)

[Wolfala]

http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2011-03-11-japan-quake-reactors_N.htm

Cross your fingers folks.

Warhead - what say ya'll?

[oakranger]

http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2011-03-11-japan-quake-reactors_N.htm

Cross your fingers folks.

Warhead - what say ya'll?

MY GOD!  Pray that nothing happens.   

[B-17]

oh man, i hope not. alot of my girlfriends family is over there, they know where her mums mum is, but not her mums aunt, and her family is worried sick. please please PLEEASE let this all pass :

[Yossarian]

I wouldn't worry too much - from my moderately limited knowledge of nuclear power, the worst you'd get is a steam explosion (like Chernobyl, but with plenty of warning this time - and I *think* the winds are heading out to sea), or some sort of radioactive sludgepile inside your reactor.  So nothing good, but nothing apocalyptic either.  But still, 

[EskimoJoe]

Nuclear reactor?
Steam explosion?
Winds heading out to sea?
Godzilla!?

Joking aside, we're all praying for the best  

[trax1]

I just heard that there was 1 fatality here in the U.S as a result of the tsunami, he was trying to take pictures of it in Crescent City CA when he was washed out to sea.  There were 4 others that were washed out, but they were later rescued. 

[B-17]

CNN just said it's gonna hit Hawaii in about an hour, then it's gonna hit the U.S West coast at 7:20-30 am PST, and it looks like it's gonna hit Hawaii hard.

already has. wave hit maui at 4ish central time. 6 ft wave, right into the harbour. i think san francisco got hit too?

[trax1]

already has. wave hit maui at 4ish central time. 6 ft wave, right into the harbour. i think san francisco got hit too?

Yeah that post was from 6 am this morning, and yeah the entire West coast was hit, but it wasn't anything to bad, except in Crescent City CA were the waves were around 8ft, and as I posted just a few min ago 1 person was killed.

[Vulcan]

I hate earthquakes. Every quake/aftershock we've had since the big ones yesterday are as big as anything I've felt before in Japan. Every time another quake starts, and the house and furniture begin to rattle and shake, you don't know if this is going to be another big one, or a lesser one than yesterday.

Stay safe rolex, remember the christchurch hit last month was an "aftershock" from the 7.1 from last year. They reckon anything over 7 and you're guaranteed within an order of magnitude afterhock within 6 months. And the christchurch "aftershock" exerted more than twice the force on christchurch that you got in sendai - even though it was only a 6.3 (I suggest your read here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peak_ground_acceleration ). Get yourself organized and prepared for a nasty aftershock, people here got caught with their pants down because they didn't.

Been doing a lot of reading up on quakes lately

[trax1]

Stay safe rolex, remember the christchurch hit last month was an "aftershock" from the 7.1 from last year. They reckon anything over 7 and you're guaranteed within an order of magnitude afterhock within 6 months. And the christchurch "aftershock" exerted more than twice the force on christchurch that you got in sendai - even though it was only a 6.3 (I suggest your read here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peak_ground_acceleration ). Get yourself organized and prepared for a nasty aftershock, people here got caught with their pants down because they didn't.

Been doing a lot of reading up on quakes lately

Look at that "Significant earthquakes" chart on that Wikipedia page, 6 of the 9 earthquakes have happen from 2005 to now, seems like a lot of powerful seismic activity lately.

[Buzzard7]

Thanks for the update Rolex. Stay safe brother.