Massive earthquake and tsunamis hit Japan

[Barking_Mad]

BBC:

Another two aftershocks measuring 5.1 magnitude have just shaken Japan's east coast, the US Geological Survey reports.

 

[Minnie_the_Minx]

Just got in from the school run, caught a few seconds of those fires, looked like widespread burning, like a whole town or something. Where was that?

Those fires look fierce.

Hope the area was evacuated before the fires took hold

 

[Barking_Mad]

Fires are in Kesennumma..

 

[Steel Icarus]

Fires are in Kesennumma..

Looks like a vision of hell. Like Mordor or something. Unreal.

 

[xes]

Jesus H, that looks like a volcano just blew magma all over a town

 

[ATOMIC SUPLEX]

Hope Atomic and wife's family are ok

I think everyone I know in Tokyo is accounted for. My wife does have some family in Miyagi, I don't know how they are. They live in a very very isolated area.

 

[krtek a houby]

I think everyone I know in Tokyo is accounted for. My wife does have some family in Miyagi, I don't know how they are. They live in a very very isolated area.

Hope all ok

 

[Minnie_the_Minx]

I think everyone I know in Tokyo is accounted for. My wife does have some family in Miyagi, I don't know how they are. They live in a very very isolated area.

Fingers crossed for them then. Hope you hear something soon

 

[xes]

fucking hell.

 

[Iguana]

fucking hell.

They just showed that on the BBC a couple of minutes ago and said the footage has been slowed down. It actually happened much quicker.

 

[weepiper]

Jesus, the whole street just gets pulverised!

 

[xes]

They just showed that on the BBC a couple of minutes ago and said the footage has been slowed down. It actually happened much quicker.

You know, i didn't know that, and I nearly commented on how it seemed almost serene. Like in horror movies where there's loads of carnage, and they're playing mozart in the background. but it didn't seem appropriate. At least I know know why it seemed like that.

 

[Iguana]

If anyone was still in that region they didn't stand a chance. I hope it was evacuated.

On the news it mentioned rice paddys being destroyed. How important is food production in the regions hit?

 

[Minnie_the_Minx]

If anyone was still in that region they didn't stand a chance. I hope it was evacuated.

On the news it mentioned rice paddys being destroyed. How important is food production in the regions hit?

Don't know, but according to Wiki, Kesennuma's main industry is fishing. Not sure if that's the area you're talking about. Stands to reason that's the coastal areas, but not sure if they have rice fields further inland

Kesennuma relies on tourism and commercial fishing, the latter being what the city is known for, especially its tuna, pacific saury and skipjack tuna production, keeping the fishing port very active. It also has a shark fin fishery.

 

[Yuwipi Woman]

If anyone was still in that region they didn't stand a chance. I hope it was evacuated.

On the news it mentioned rice paddys being destroyed. How important is food production in the regions hit?

They said most of that area was evacuated on the news. I certainly hope thats true.

I looked at some of the footage of the rice paddys being hit and thought "I hope they had crop insurance." I think I've lived in a farming community way too long.

 

[Dan U]

Another train reported missing

 

[Mr.Bishie]

According to the BBC just now, a 'second' train is reported missing.

 

[Minnie_the_Minx]

Sounds like rice is grown all over Japan so doesn't sound like it's just grown in one region and all their crops would have been destroyed

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_rice

 

[Mr.Bishie]

More pics here - http://www.theatlantic.com/infocus/2011/03/earthquake-in-japan/100022/

 

[Minnie_the_Minx]

am I the only person who's wondering if that whirlpool and boat is still there?

 

[wiskey]

More pics here - http://www.theatlantic.com/infocus/2011/03/earthquake-in-japan/100022/

wow

 

[xes]

No Minnie, you're not. I was hoping that there was nobody aboard, and it had been swept out.

 

[Iguana]

Wasn't there a ship with 100 people on board reported to have disappeared? Is that one it?

 

[Mr.Bishie]

Wasn't there a ship with 100 people on board reported to have disappeared? Is that one it?

Not that one afaik.

 

[dennisr]

A friend is still waiting for news from her family particularly her brother - she said the school her brother works in was simply washed away - just hope folk were evacuated :-(

 

[Mr.Bishie]

 

[geminisnake]

I think everyone I know in Tokyo is accounted for. My wife does have some family in Miyagi, I don't know how they are. They live in a very very isolated area.

Hope they're all ok. My first thought when I heard about this was 'hope AS's inlaws(H's grandparents) and family are ok'.

 

[Barking_Mad]

holy shit! BBC:

The power of the earthquake off north-east Japan shifted the earth's axis by nearly 10in (25cm), Earth-issues.com reports, citing the National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology. The phenomenon is not unusual for a major quake.

 

[lizzieloo]

Japan just issued additional tsunami warnings

 

[Barking_Mad]

Japan just issued additional tsunami warnings

presumably due to aftershocks?