Massive quake 8.9(updated to 9.0), tsunami ravage Japan

[Notnice]

TOKYO – A ferocious tsunami spawned by one of the largest earthquakes on record slammed Japan's eastern coast Friday, killing hundreds of people as it swept away ships, cars and homes while widespread fires burned out of control.

Hours later, the tsunami hit Hawaii but did not cause major damage. Warnings blanketed the Pacific, putting areas on alert as far away as South America, Canada, Alaska and the entire U.S. West coast. In northeastern Japan, the area around a nuclear power plant was evacuated after the reactor's cooling system failed.

Police said 200 to 300 bodies were found in the northeastern coastal city of Sendai, the city in Miyagi prefecture, or state, closest to the epicenter. Another 110 were confirmed killed, with 350 people missing. Police also said 544 people were injured.

The magnitude-8.9 offshore quake unleashed a 23-foot (seven-meter) tsunami and was followed for hours by more than 50 aftershocks, many of them of more than magnitude 6.0.

Dozens of cities and villages along a 1,300-mile (2,100-kilometer) stretch of coastline were shaken by violent tremors that reached as far away as Tokyo, hundreds of miles (kilometers) from the epicenter. A large section of Kesennuma, a town of 70,000 people in Miyagi, burned furiously into the night with no apparent hope of being extinguished, public broadcaster NHK said.

"The earthquake has caused major damage in broad areas in northern Japan," Prime Minister Naoto Kan said at a news conference.




http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110311/ap_on_re_as/as_japan_earthquake

[TriniXaeno]

incredible footage taken from that helicopter.

Really gives you a sense of the devastation. Prayers go out to Japan during this tragedy.

[Arcmanov]

There's a longer version of that vid on BBC World's website, where cars can clearly be seen
making a 180 on the roadway, drivers frantic to get away from an oncoming wall of water and debris.

Can you imagine going on your merry way to work and right over the next hill you see a literal
WALL of water rushing towards you, engulfing EVERYTHING in its path?

What exactly do you do in that situation?

[Saxito Pau]

There's a longer version of that vid on BBC World's website, where cars can clearly be seen
making a 180 on the roadway, drivers frantic to get away from an oncoming wall of water and debris.

Can you imagine going on your merry way to work and right over the next hill you see a literal
WALL of water rushing towards you, engulfing EVERYTHING in its path?

What exactly do you do in that situation?

Turn up the windows, turn on A/C, crank up the volume and throw in 2nd gear.

It's going to be one HELL of a ride from this point forward..

[New Era Outlaw]

Guys....let's do something to help.

https://american.redcross.org/site/Donation2?idb=0&5052.donation=form1&df_id=5052

There's the link to the Red Cross relief fund. Go and donate your moneys.

[Saxito Pau]

This article gives you a clean and horrific comparison of the amount of damage that tsunami did using before and after satellite photos:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/42052263/ns/technology_and_science-space/

...

[Redfish]

Maaan those pics just have me depressed......and one of my classmates from high school is over there, y'all may have heard them talking to her on the news. Her name is Sherrilee Moore......think she went over there to teach English......

Now that is devastation to the max.

[Saxito Pau]

And like nature ent done yet: A volcano decides to erupt now


http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1366109/Japan-volcano-Earthquake-tsunami-potential-nuclear-meltdown-enough.html?ito=feeds-newsxml

    * Hundreds flee as ash and rock shoots two miles into air
    * Not yet known if eruption is result of Friday's earthquake
    * Explosion shattered windows four miles away

A volcano has erupted in Japan, compounding the problems in the disaster-ravaged country.

Following Friday's megaquake and resulting tsunami which took the lives of thousands along the east coast, the Shinmoedake volcano in south-western Japan erupted yesterday, sending ash and rock over two miles into the air.

The explosion shattered windows as far as four miles away, adding to the terror the country has suffered over the past few days.

Scroll down to watch video
The Shinmoedake volcano in the Kirishima range in south-western Japan erupted yesterday

The Shinmoedake volcano in the Kirishima range in south-western Japan erupted yesterday
Hundreds fled as roasting hot ash rained down from the mountain. An area of over a mile around the volcano was evacuated

Hundreds fled as roasting hot ash rained down from the mountain. An area of over a mile around the volcano was evacuated

An area of over a mile around the volcano, located in the Kirishima range on the southern Kyushu island, was evacuated and hundreds fled as roasting hot ash rained down from the mountain.

A volcano warning at level three out of five is currently in place, but that could be increased since it is believed a dome if lava is now forming in the crater.

 
More...

    * Hell on Earth: I've seen 20 wars... but nothing prepared me for the sight of a town reduced to a morass of splintered wood, jagged concrete and twisted metal where 10,000 have died
    * Nuclear fuel rods WERE exposed after blast at power plant: Desperate battle for control of tsunami-hit reactor after second explosion
    * Awesome power of the black tidal wave: Terrifying video shows full force of Japanese tsunami destroying everything in its path
    * Shellshocked survivors of the Japanese tsunami huddle together in the rubble: The pictures that show a shattered country laid waste
    * Satellite images show utter devastation left behind by tsunami

It is not yet known if the eruption 950 miles from the epicentre of Friday's 8.9-magnitude earthquake was triggered by the resulting seismic activity.

It is the second time this year the 1,421-metre volcano has erupted.
Smoke rising from Mt. Shinmoedake in January. It is the second time this year the 1,421-metre volcano has erupted

Smoke rising from Mt. Shinmoedake in January. It is the second time this year the 1,421-metre volcano has erupted

Japan has been plagued by close to 300 aftershocks since Friday's megaquake, and experts have no idea when they will stop.

Meanwhile, Japan is today fighting to avoid a nuclear catastrophe as one over-heating reactor lost its cooling capacity at a tsunami-hit power plant in Fukushima - in the wake of explosions at another two reactors on the same site.

Engineers have been fighting to keep the reactors under control after the tsunami knocked out emergency coolant systems on Friday and avoid a nuclear disaster which would make even worse what Japan's prime minister has called the 'worst crisis in the 65 years since the war'.

Over 10,000 people are thought to have died in the aftermath of Friday's earthquake and tsunami.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1366109/Japan-volcano-Earthquake-tsunami-potential-nuclear-meltdown-enough.html#ixzz1GgODwXuO

[Archer]

Sigh...... the aftermath of the Earthquake proving more troublesome than the quake itself :/ and I think Japan has about 100 volcanoes.

[Redfish]

Talk about being kicked in the nuts while you're down..........Japan is in my prayers, that is too much for one country to take in less that a week!!

[VirtueTT]

Maaan those pics just have me depressed......and one of my classmates from high school is over there, y'all may have heard them talking to her on the news. Her name is Sherrilee Moore......think she went over there to teach English......

Now that is devastation to the max.

The Gov of T&T with the Japanese embassy, up to this weekend accounted for most of the Trinidadians after the earthquake. Hopefully they are able to evac as much people as possible.

[Redfish]

Yea she's alright and also another young schoolmate of mine too, cause she responded on her fb profile.

[Q]

Thank God for Facebook.

In the meantime, WOW Japan... Yuh car get tief, yuh get rob walkin home and yuh eventually reach to find yuh wife not  alone.

The Japanese are survivors and they'll get past this but DAMN, hoss...

[W1nTry]

I saw on some friends fb that the quake was upgraded to a 9.0? anyone can confirm? we might need to update the title of this thread.

[Mez]

It could be worse though.. i mean.. Wait till godzilla arrives yo

[rb]

I saw on some friends fb that the quake was upgraded to a 9.0? anyone can confirm? we might need to update the title of this thread.

cnn has been reporting that they did indeed upgrade it 9.0

[VirtueTT]

It could be worse though.. i mean.. Wait till godzilla arrives yo

sigh Mez.. sigh... tbh tho i wanted to say it BUT i withheld for more sympathetic reasons. I guess it wouldn't be you if you didn't right?

@W1nTry - from what im reading, yes it's been upgraded to a 9.0

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2011/03/15/3164149.htm

[Notnice]

It could be worse though.. i mean.. Wait till godzilla arrives yo

sigh Mez.. sigh... tbh tho i wanted to say it BUT i withheld for more sympathetic reasons. I guess it wouldn't be you if you didn't right?

@W1nTry - from what im reading, yes it's been upgraded to a 9.0

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2011/03/15/3164149.htm

Will update the topic heading

[Mez]

yew mean like so?

[Q]

^ Too soon...