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8.8 Earthquake Near Japanese Coast

Posted by timothy on from the surf's-up-and-up-and-up dept.

radioweather writes "USGS is reporting a 8.8 (was estimated first at 7.9) magnitude earthquake off of the east coast of Honshu, Japan. Details from USGS. Tsunami warning issued. Japan's Meteorological agency is saying 20-foot or higher waves are possible from a Tsunami near Miyagi prefecture."

11 of 431 comments (clear)

  1. USGS continues to upgrade by Kalidor · · Score: 5, Informative

    Quake was upgraded to 8.9 some time ago. Also aftershocks continue.

    http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/recenteqsww/Maps/region/Asia_eqs.php

    --

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  2. This is worst than in the movies by Pecisk · · Score: 5, Informative

    Wave moves slowly and silently inland, and carries parts of houses in full flames (!!!). This is insane.

    http://edition.cnn.com/video/#/video/world/2011/03/11/sot.tsunami.hit.japan.cnn?hpt=T1

    Mother Nature shows it's power. For better or worse.

    --
    user@ubuntubox:~$ stfu This server is going down for shutdown NOW!
    1. Re:This is worst than in the movies by MichaelSmith · · Score: 4, Informative

      To drill a hole in a metal surface you need to start by creating a little depression so that the drill won't slide around. A manual center punch is a short steel rod. The sharp end goes against the metal surface. The blunt end you hit with a hammer. An automatic center punch has a spring between the sharp and blunt ends. You press the blunt end so that energy collects in the spring. When sufficient energy is collected the sharp end snaps out all at once and makes the dimple in the surface. Glass is brittle and fails catastrophically under concentrated load. If your car floods you may not be able to open a window because pressure will stop it sliding. My automatic center punch cost 12 aussie bucks at a hardware store. I keep it in my van, and another in my tool kit where it actually gets used for its intended purpose.

      --
      http://michaelsmith.id.au
    2. Re:This is worst than in the movies by Remloc · · Score: 4, Informative

      As someone who woke up 35 miles from Northridge that Martin Luther King Day, it is NOT silent. You can hear the rock grinding.

  3. 8.9 Now, Tsunamis Ahead by rsmith-mac · · Score: 4, Informative

    Since Slashdot summaries are always a bit dated, it's been bumped up to an 8.9 by the USGS. The good news is that it was off-shore and 15.2mi down, the bad news is that it was off-shore and generated a large tsunami that is still wrecking havoc in Japan and may be heading elsewhere.

    Best of luck to the Japanese; if anyone is prepared it's them, but I don't know how one prepares for something quite like this.

    Meanwhile for the US there are active tsunami warnings in Hawaii, and NOAA has just issued a watch for the US West Coast.

  4. Local News by ZirconCode · · Score: 5, Informative

    Sitting in Japan, translating from the news here~

    largest earthquake since 300 years
    nuclear power plants affected but nothing leaked
    some factory at the coast started burning, they're showing it over and over again
    8 people so far found dead
    tsunami along almost the entire coast, 3meter to 10meters

    It's very bad,

    They're also warning of another earthquake which is predicted to happen shortly

    1. Re:Local News by ZirconCode · · Score: 5, Informative

      Financial markets went down, Prime Minister already reacted and sent out military and more If you're in Japan: remain calm, move away from coast, keep (clean) water in bathtub & food, DON'T CALL TOKYO

  5. Insane! by whoever57 · · Score: 4, Informative

    I am just outside Tokyo and the shaking here was insane. The building shook for about 2 minutes, then it died down, but very shortly later the after-quakes hit. Over three hours after the initial quake and the building is still shaking. Trains are shut down, so people can't get home.

    --
    The real "Libtards" are the Libertarians!
  6. Not log10, 10^(11.8 + 1.5M) by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    Hi,

    It's a common misconception that the power of a mag 9 earthquake is 10x more than an 8, or 1,000x that of a 6. It's not. It's more like 31,000x stronger than a 6. If you've ever had the misfortune to experience a 6, you can appreciate that the energy released by these big ones are rather hard to contemplate.

    http://earthquake.usgs.gov/learn/topics/measure.php
            1 J = 1e7 erg
            1 PJ = 1e15 J
          Energy_petajoules = ( 10^(11.8 + 1.5*Ms) ) * 1e-07 * 1e-15

    here's a picture of what this looks like, although ring size scaling has been reduced from the above formula to fit on the screen.

  7. Tsunami monitoring bouys by DerekLyons · · Score: 5, Informative

    You can see live data from the Tsunami warning bouys here.

  8. Re:Warnings for entire Pacific area in effect! by sunspot42 · · Score: 5, Informative

    There's a warning out now for the West Cost of the US. Wave expected to hit between 7-7:30 AM PST. Only expected to be 3-4 feet high at this time. Avoid the beach.

    http://wcatwc.arh.noaa.gov/