Japan ...

[uwe]

News is still pouring in, like a doomsday sci fi movie, people here have relatives and friends there, I hope they are alright and everyone in those regions waiting to be hit remains safe. Teaches you humility. No nanotechnology can stop this, nature can still teach us a lesson or two.

Amazing though that Japan gets hit by an 8.9 quake and actually survives. Imagine what this would have done to a Third World country.

[Chaser001]

I have some friends over there that I lost touch with many years ago.  It would upset me greatly if I found out anything had happened to them.  I'm encouraged that the death toll isn't higher. 

[Dave W]

I'm afraid the death toll may go much higher. The Sendai area is still a big city and 8.9 is huge.

[Nocturnal]

My sister and her family are over there (Missawa AFB). Thankfully all of them are fine. She said they felt the quake and the aftershocks. House is a mess but everyone is fine. They had a smaller one last week too. Nothing compared to this one tho.

[Aussie Mark]

Amazing though that Japan gets hit by an 8.9 quake and actually survives. Imagine what this would have done to a Third World country.

No need to imagine, it happened on Boxing Day, 2004  .....  230,000 killed in 14 developing countries.

[rahock]

At this point the death toll is strictly realitive to what they are able to report and they have priorities bigger than counting and reporting the bodies. I expect to hear some staggering numbers .
The aerial camera shots of all this little debris that looked like bits of gravel being washed away like someone was hosing down their driveway. Then you get a better look at what those little bits of gravel like debris actually are, stuff like houses , boats, ships, cars and trucks. I've never seen anything like it.
Rick

[Freuds_Cat]

incredible on all counts.

[Dave W]

And now a cooling system explosion that apparently has collapsed the walls of a building surrounding a reactor.

[rahock]

Not to mention four trains are missing . Some pretty serious circumstances when you can lose four trains.
Rick

[hieronymous]

I heard from my cousin in Tokyo - she and her two brothers are safe - more importantly, her mom & dad (my aunt & uncle) who live in Iwate prefecture much closer to the epicenter are ok. Still waiting to hear about my father in law - he is on the coast of Hokkaido in a tsunami warning zone. Hokkaido doesn't seem to be in as bad shape as the area around Sendai, but I would still like to hear that he is safe...

Phone contact is sporadic - I heard a rumor that phone lines were shut down by the government for emergency use only, I just heard a report on NHK news that a lot of cell phone companies are still out of commission, but some people are managing to get in touch. I have a lot of friends in Japan or with family in Japan on facebook, and it's a relief when they check in with messages that they or their families are ok.

UPDATE: just heard this morning - my wife's family members in Hokkaido are ok!!!

[Highlander]

Good luck with the family Harry, one and all...

The Moon is closer to the earth than usual at present, which has not helped geological stability... The 2004 event was 9.3 iirc - seems like the strength of the event rises exponentially

Something that may be of interest...

Earthquakes are measured using the Richter Scale, which is a logarithmic scale ranging from 0-9. (Logarithmic means that with each increase of one on the Richter scale, there is a tenfold increase in energy.) The scale is as follows:

Less than 2.0 : Micro : Not felt.
2.0-2.9 : Minor : Not felt, but recorded.
3.0-3.9 : Minor : Felt, but rarely cuse damage.
4.0-4.9 : Light : Noticable shaking of items, damage unlikely.
5.0-5.9 : Moderate : Damage to poorly constructed buildings, unlikely damage to specially designed buildings.
6.0-6.9 : Strong : Destructive for up to 100 miles across populated areas.
7.0-7.9 : Major : Serious damage over large areas.
8.0-8.9 : Great : Serious damage over areas of several hundred miles.
9.0-9.9 : Great : Devastating damage in areas thousands of miles across.
10.0+   : Great : Yet to be recorded.

How many of you have seen geological strata planes at odds with our horizontal - most of my home Island is a slipped plate left over when Canada went on holiday, with the plane at about 70 degrees to the norm... Nature will have the last laugh on us all...

[chromium]

This was horrible news    Glad to hear that friends & family of you guys are so far safe and accounted for.  Thoughts are with you.

[Lightyear]

Thoughts and prayers for your family and friends Harry.

[Chaser001]

I'm impressed with how stoically the Japanese are dealing with the earthquake. 

[hieronymous]

I remember when I moved to Japan in 1982 - I was 11 - the hotel we were staying at was something like 24 stories, and at the base, there were these big rubber sections so that the building would be flexible in an earthquake. I remember experiencing a couple of little ones while we were staying there, nothing like the one that just happened. But the Japanese nation has been preparing for earthquakes and tsunami like this for a long time - in fact, tsunami is a Japanese word...