8.4-9 Magnitude Quake Hits Japan!

[GoktimusPrime]

I got in touch with some friends near my old 'hood in Japan and they told me that they experienced some property damage including damage to their house, but nobody got hurt. Was obviously really scary though.

[Hursticon]

I got in touch with some friends near my old 'hood in Japan and they told me that they experienced some property damage including damage to their house, but nobody got hurt. Was obviously really scary though.

That's good to hear Goki.

Seeing some of the footage when the 1st wave made landfall, it was so sad to see these people literally running for their lives knowing full-well the inevitable - Thank Anubis for Australia's positioning on it's plate.

[Doubledealer]

Watching it now and can't believe my eyes...The speed at which that water's travelling, and the islands of debris on fire...Bloody hell, it's like something out of Akira

[Hursticon]

Watching it now and can't believe my eyes...The speed at which that water's travelling, and the islands of debris on fire...Bloody hell, it's like something out of Akira

Actually, that's a sadly accurate description IMO.

[Lord_Zed]

There saying the quake surpasses the great Kanto earthquake and the Kobe earthquake, that's seriously not good.

Following so soon after Christchurch is eerily reminiscent of the Hati Quake itself barely a year ago which was then followed by the quake of the coast of Chile a month later.

Somewhere relatively unprepared gets hit then another Tsunami prone country has a major quake 8+ of the coast, I'm no seismologist so I dunno the more complex details of how tectonic plate shifts work but its pretty creepy.

Certainly the TV footage is very sad, even more so after Christchurch eathquake and the Queensland floods proved how nasty water based disaster can be.

Sendai is on my list of places I would like to visit in Japan one day too.

[mknell]

Crikey thats some amazing footage we are seeing. I am supposed to be leaving for Japan on Tuesday...

Worst hit seems to be northern japan, but Apparently Disney lands' carpak got flooded from the tsunami.

Just been watching some footage of the tsunami, and you can see cras driving away from the tsunami.... One got cut off by the wave and had to turn for the nearest building. Wow.

looks like that due to the lack of warning, the tsunami caught many by surprise. I hope that people are all fine.

Wow you were meant to be leaving Tuesday? I was meant to be on a flight there last night but we moved our trip to April, otherwise we would currently be stranded in Guam.

Its so terrible all is happening & hopefully the people there are ok

[GoktimusPrime]

There saying the quake surpasses the great Kanto earthquake and the Kobe earthquake, that's seriously not good.

Apparently yesterday's quake was 6.6 in magnitude with over 60 aftershocks, one of them being 7.1. The Great Kanto Quake was 7.9 and that one claimed 140,000 lives. The 1995 Kobe quake killed 6400 people.

Current casualty figures is around 200-300 with an estimate of 1000.

I'm gonna try to give Tiger Convoy a call... he shouldn't be near the effected area, but considering that the quake was felt all the way in Beijing I think it'd be worth making sure he's okay.

[5FDP]

Watching it now and can't believe my eyes...The speed at which that water's travelling, and the islands of debris on fire...Bloody hell, it's like something out of Akira

Yeah, the water was travelling at approx. 600 km's per hour when it hit the shoreline. The quake itself was 1000 times stronger than the one in NZ. I can't even begin to imagine what it would have been like to live through that.

My thoughts are with our friends in Japan.

[GoktimusPrime]

Damnit... can't find Tiger Convoy's phone number... I tried calling DFAT but they only look after Australian citizens and told me to call the Japanese Consulate... and they had me on hold for ages. Understandably there must be a flood of people calling in, so I'll keep looking for Tiger Convoy's number later or try calling the Consulate again later.

For anyone else who attended Tiger Convoy's farewell dinner in Sydney (Lord_Zed, you were there right?) see if you can find those cards he gave us with his contact details. Without it all I have to go on is his name, DOB and the prefecture he lives in.

[Tetsuwan Convoy]

I wonder how religious beliefs justify events like this?

Shinto (native japanese beliefs) say that earthquakes are brought about by a huge fish under the land of joan waving its tail. As for the moral side of punishment, I suspect that some will say they deserved it, without then backing it up...

Wow you were meant to be leaving Tuesday? I was meant to be on a flight there last night but we moved our trip to April, otherwise we would currently be stranded in Guam.

Its so terrible all is happening & hopefully the people there are ok

Last night hey? well I hear they closed Narita down and Qantas cancelled a couple of flights. I am supposed to be away on the 14th (this tuesday) until mid-april. For a bit of hanami and catch up. I suspect a fair bit of catch up now. Luckily my in-laws and freinds are all fine and no damage. I guess my Transformers waiting for me at their house are safe as well