The Japan 8.9 Earthquake

[Arkillian]

I'm surprised that there isn't a forum post about this yet.

IT IS DEVASTATING. I can't imagine how badly Japan is hurting right now after being rocked by an 8.9 earthquake, and being wiped out by a 23 foot tsunami. Not only that, but their nuclear reactors are threatening to blow. If this happens....

T.T

My heart goes out to Japan. We've seen first hand what a 6.3 can do to Christchurch in our own country. Japan's was 1000 time more powerful. They must be terrified over there with the masses of aftershocks they're having. The photos are breath taking.

Does anyone have any thoughts or words they'd like to say?

[kindofdoon]

It's unbelievable. Wikipedia says that the total energy released by the quake was equal to the force of 600 million Hiroshima atomic bombs...Obviously not all of that energy directly hit Japan - much of it was dissipated underwater or otherwise radiated away. The magnitude of the disaster is entirely unfathomable.

[dark-daventry]

All of these natural disasters happening... I'm not a religious person, but it makes me start wondering. It's really sad to see all of this happening to the world, and having lived in New England all my life, I've never experienced an earth-quake or any sort of significant natural disaster in my life time. The worst I remember experiencing are torrential downpours and blizzards; I've never experienced an earth quake in my life, and honestly, if I did, I'd probably be scared to death. The very notion is scary. Furthermore, because New England hardly ever experiences such disasters (we tend to get the after effects), I'm not sure we're prepared. My heart goes out to both Japan and New Zealand though. I can only imagine what this must be like for everyone affected.

[kindofdoon]

New England happens to be an unusually safe place to live, geographically, despite being on the coast.

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

[dark-daventry]

Wow. I'm actually pretty lucky to live where I do. I mean, we've had some bad stuff, at least by New England standards, but nothing as bad as some of these natural disasters.

[Haids1987]

I was watching the news two nights ago and there was video inside an elementary school of when the quake hit, and all those babies inside the classroom just started screaming.  I had tears all down my cheeks--it's devastating.  I've been praying for them every day, just hoping to God that the people who haven't yet been accounted for are simply lost in the shuffle, not dead. 

[KatieHal]

I am hoping that things turn out okay for Japan--they are definitely in an awful place right now


As far as 'signs' etc, I don't believe it. Despite my penchant for games, books, etc, that are all about portents and so forth, I don't actually believe in them. Or at least, in this whole 2012 business. The Earth's really friggin' old and it'll be here long after we're gone. But the crust of the Earth, the continental plates, are constantly moving. This used to all be one huge continent, don't forget.

New Zealand and Japan are on the same tectonic plate border (the Pacific plate and the Indo-Australian plate), which is also where the Ring of Fire is. A notoriously volcanic and active plate boundary. To me, really, it just seems like it probably makes some sense that not long after a quake hit way down on one end of that plate, another hit further along the same line. Apparently, they even suspected a quake would hit soon, but just not that it would be that magnitude (which came from it hitting so close to the surface, from what I can tell).

In short, IMO, this is a horrible tragedy--but not an approaching apocalypse.

[Haids1987]

Well stated, Katie. Approaching these issues from a scientific perspective seems to ease people's nerves a quite a bit!

[dark-daventry]

Well stated, Katie. Approaching these issues from a scientific perspective seems to ease people's nerves a quite a bit!

As it did mine. I'm not religious by any means, and I really try to shy away from end of the world theories and what not. I'm a strong willed individual (or at least, I like to think so), but I've got a weak side. My weak side is doom predictions. My emotions can be affected by external factors, even things that don't affect me. I cried watching Alvin and the Chipmunks once. Seriously. Anything that pertains to doom predictions or some such thing, to me, gets me depressed sometimes. Approaching things from a scientific perspective helps ease the nerves.

[kindofdoon]

Well stated, Katie. Approaching these issues from a scientific perspective seems to ease people's nerves a quite a bit!

As it did mine. I'm not religious by any means, and I really try to shy away from end of the world theories and what not. I'm a strong willed individual (or at least, I like to think so), but I've got a weak side. My weak side is doom predictions. My emotions can be affected by external factors, even things that don't affect me. I cried watching Alvin and the Chipmunks once. Seriously. Anything that pertains to doom predictions or some such thing, to me, gets me depressed sometimes. Approaching things from a scientific perspective helps ease the nerves.

Stay away from the Discovery Channel...I once watched like 3 hours of Doomsday specials and it ruined the next day entirely.

[Big C from Cauney island]

Japan is in everyone's prayers.

[snabbott]

Japan is in everyone's prayers.

Yes.

[KatieHal]

Here's the Red Cross donation page; the first option listed currently is to donate for relief efforts in Japan, if anyone is able to spare some money towards the cause.

[Sslaxx]

It's a pretty terrifying situation there. My cousin is in the neighbouring Akita Prefecture. He seems to be doing OK at the moment, though I gather (unsurprisingly) that electricity is rather sketchy.

[wilco64256]

And as if the earthquake and Tsunami weren't bad enough, they're now sliding a bit into major nuclear problems.  Though I won't agree with people I've heard who say this shows how "fragile" nuclear power is.  It's a bit tough to plan for one of the biggest earthquakes ever recorded immediately followed by a monster tsunami.  The reactors actually handled the earthquake itself very nicely and the generators kicked in as they were supposed to, they just had a bit of trouble continuing to run after being totally submerged.

My thoughts and prayers go out to the people of that great nation and I really hope they're able to get things under control over there and start working on the road to rebuilding.

[KatieHal]

Yeah, although I don't think nuclear technology is "fragile", I do think we should be moving away from it. I mean when it goes wrong, like this, it goes REALLY wrong. And there are better, greener, energy options out there anyways.

[dark-daventry]

Yeah, although I don't think nuclear technology is "fragile", I do think we should be moving away from it. I mean when it goes wrong, like this, it goes REALLY wrong. And there are better, greener, energy options out there anyways.

I agree, Katie. I'm a supporter of greener energy options. I never really liked the idea of Nuclear power. It always seemed like an accident waiting to happen to me.

[Deloria]

It's not Chernobyl. Things are still under control for the most part.

It's a bit tough to plan for one of the biggest earthquakes ever recorded immediately followed by a monster tsunami. 

Earthquakes often trigger tsunamis if they happen at the right place, so while the earthquake may have been totally unforeseen, the tsunami following it almost certainly wasn't. 

[Haids1987]

The best thing for all those people right now is prayer.

[Arkillian]

Yeah, although I don't think nuclear technology is "fragile", I do think we should be moving away from it. I mean when it goes wrong, like this, it goes REALLY wrong. And there are better, greener, energy options out there anyways.

This is why New Zealand is nuclear free We use hydro power here. It may not be as awesome as nuclear power, but if something hits our dams, it'll cause a huge flood, but not destruction of a large chunk of NZ soil. I'd like to believe that we have huge fail safes too for that too.

As for nuclear power, The plants got hit by a 9.8 and a tsunami. If they're STILL partially safe after that, then that says something for the level of security put on it. Now they just need to cool the cores down. That is SO critical right now