RED ALERT: MAJOR EARTHQUAKE, TSUNAMI & NOW VOLCANO STRIKE JAPAN

[trapeze]

Breaking...

TOKYO – A magnitude 8.9 earthquake slammed Japan's northeastern coast Friday, unleashing a 13-foot (4-meter) tsunami that swept boats, cars, buildings and tons of debris miles inland. Fires triggered by the quake burned out of control up and down the coast.

At least one person was killed and there were reports of several injuries in Tokyo, hundreds of kilometers (miles) away, where buildings shook violently through the main quake and the wave of massive aftershocks that followed.
TV footage showed waves of muddy waters sweeping over farmland near the city of Sendai, carrying buildings, some on fire, inland as cars attempted to drive away.

"This is a rare major quake, and damages could quickly rise by the minute," said Junichi Sawada, an official with Japan's Fire and Disaster Management Agency.

Officials were trying to assess damage, injuries and deaths but had no immediate details. Police said at least one person was killed in a house collapse in Ibaraki prefecture, just northeast of Tokyo.

A large fire erupted at the Cosmo oil refinery in Ichihara city in Chiba prefecture near Tokyo and was burning out of control.

Public broadcaster NHK showed footage of a large ship being swept away by the tsunami and ramming directly into a breakwater in Kesennuma city in Miyagi prefecture. Similar destruction was seen in dozens of communities along the coast.

[trapeze]

AceOfSpades has a flaming skull post on this...

Not good: NHK TV showing a number of cars partially/fully underwater in what looks like a port or marina area.

Depth of quake 24k, CNN guy says that's not very deep.

This could be very, very bad.

Oh God...huge waves hitting somewhere in Japan. Live on CNN.

Via rdbrewer Google map for epicenter. CNN says it's 150 miles but tsunamis travel about 800kph.

Via Andy Levy, NHK internet stream.

Damage reports are showing up on Twitter from across Japan.

This is going to kill a lot of people in Japan.

[trapeze]

This is the most terrifying thing I have ever seen on live tv.

There is this wall of water and debris that is literally racing across the land with a busy roadway about to be engulfed.

There are fires everywhere.  Big ones.

There are tsunami warnings going off in Honolulu right now.

I don't know what the outlook for the west coast of the US is but it would be a few hours down the line.

[trapeze]

FNC is claiming that the Hawaii wave may be up to 6 feet high.



SkyNews reports a 33 ft. wave here. Video at the link.

There will be lots and lots of deaths. Very sad.

[trapeze]

Oh yeah, and thanks to our spendthrift president we are singularly unprepared (fiscally) to help the Japanese and maybe even ourselves. I guess we will print up a few bushels of money and send it to them.

[IronDioPriest]

Watching the video of the wave racing across the farmland, engulfing every structure and vehicle in its path, bearing down on the town as vehicles races to escape, and engulfing the town, was one of the most frightening things I've ever watched. Wrath of God kinda stuff.

[BigAlSouth]

Good explanation on Richter Scale, used to measure the strength of earthquakes:
http://www.geo.mtu.edu/UPSeis/intensity.html

The Richter magnitude scale can be used to describe earthquakes so small that they are expressed in negative numbers. The scale also has no upper limit, so it can describe earthquakes of unimaginable and (so far) unexperienced intensity, such as magnitude 10.0 and beyond.

Folks, a 10.0 is unheard of. The earthquake in Japan has been pegged at 8.9. This is massive and unprecedented.

[BigAlSouth]

Watching the video, all that salt water washing over Japanese farmland. THAT will be the worst part of the disaster.

[Pandora]

More food shortages.  Just what is needed on top of everything else.  What a horror for those people.

[Libertas]

Holy Crap!  

 

I cannot believe how big this thing is!  8.9 is massive, and off the coast, no wonder the tsunami is so devastating.  I heard on the radio only 32 confirmed deaths so far, that has to be an awfully preliminary number.  The videos alone are incredible.  Truly freightening!  I pray for all those people, and I pray the wave heading for Hawaii and elsewhere is respected by people and they take to high ground!  The low lying pacific nations could be especially at risk!

 

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704399804576193650432765520.html?mod=WSJ_hp_LEFTTopStories

http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/World-News/Video-Japan-Earthquake-Tokyo-Tsunami-Fears-After-89-Magnitude-Quake-Rocks-Buildings-In-Capital/Article/201103215950160?lpos=World_News_Carousel_Region_0&lid=ARTICLE_15950160_Video%3A_Japan_Earthquake%3A_Tokyo_Tsunami_Fears_After_8.9_Magnitude_Quake_Rocks_Buildings_In_Capital

http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=TX-PAR-BQU29&show_article=1

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

[Pandora]

An aftershock of 7.1 hit which is still greater than Haiti quake.

*Update* From Twitter RT @romeoinottawa: CNN just reported the wall of water that hit northern Japan was 24 feet high.

GP has videos.

[Libertas]

Wow.  18 aftershock's , none smaller than 5.7.

This video is amazing.  Water, debris, debris on fire!  Cars tumbling like ice cubes.  Fires.

http://bloom.bg/dN2Bmx#ooid=kwZWRiMjqHXBqb2DfLdwAAcoqk-HXchN

I hear 4m people in Tokyo are without power, probably as a result of the nuke plants shutting down.

My God in this SkyNews footage you can see people in cars driving away from the surge!

http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/World-News/Video-Japan-Earthquake-Tokyo-Tsunami-Fears-After-89-Magnitude-Quake-Rocks-Buildings-In-Capital/Article/201103215950160?lpos=World_News_Carousel_Region_0&lid=ARTICLE_15950160_Video%3A_Japan_Earthquake%3A_Tokyo_Tsunami_Fears_After_8.9_Magnitude_Quake_Rocks_Buildings_In_Capital

Stunning.

The second clip half way down...can you imagine sitting in your car or house and seeing this wall of crap marching toward you?!

UFB!

[Libertas]

I am hearing on the radio that the tsunami is now just minutes from the Hawaiian Islands...

I wonder if there are any Darwin Award nominees ready to attempt something foolish?  Or will that honor fall to their dumber cousins in California?

[trapeze]

Anyone hear about places like Midway Island?

One of the things to keep in mind when you see video out of Japan is that you are only seeing pics where cameras were present. You can pretty much imagine the same thing on a massive scale.

The reports coming in are of hundreds dead. There may very well be thousands dead. Likely that a lot of the bodies will never be recovered, swept out to sea.

The point made above about the seawater on farmland is very valid. But it doesn't stop there. The debris field will contain untold amounts of toxic stuff. And then there is the nuclear power plant issue. Reports just starting to come about that.

[Libertas]

No, good point though, that is really low ground!  Wake as well!

[Libertas]

I did find this though -

http://www.hawaiitribune-herald.com/articles/2011/03/11/breaking_news/breaking49.txt

midway 28.2N 177.4W 1048z 1.27M / 4.2Ft 12min

wake us 19.3N 166.6E 0928z 0.39M / 1.3Ft 14min

ETA - Looks like it disipated...Hawaii getting wave now, and is heading to west coast...

[Pandora]

Anyone hear about places like Midway Island?

One of the things to keep in mind when you see video out of Japan is that you are only seeing pics where cameras were present. You can pretty much imagine the same thing on a massive scale.

The reports coming in are of hundreds dead. There may very well be thousands dead. Likely that a lot of the bodies will never be recovered, swept out to sea.

The point made above about the seawater on farmland is very valid. But it doesn't stop there. The debris field will contain untold amounts of toxic stuff. And then there is the nuclear power plant issue. Reports just starting to come about that.

Per Ed Mahmoud at Grouchies:

WEHW40 PHEB 111133
TSUHWX
HIZ001>003-005>009-012>014-016>021-023>026-111333-
/O.CON.PHEB.TS.W.0001.000000T0000Z-000000T0000Z/
BULLETIN
TSUNAMI MESSAGE NUMBER   7
NWS PACIFIC TSUNAMI WARNING CENTER EWA BEACH HI
133 AM HST FRI MAR 11 2011
TO - CIVIL DEFENSE IN THE STATE OF HAWAII
SUBJECT - TSUNAMI WARNING SUPPLEMENT
A TSUNAMI WARNING CONTINUES IN EFFECT FOR THE STATE OF HAWAII.
AN EARTHQUAKE HAS OCCURRED WITH THESE PRELIMINARY PARAMETERS
   ORIGIN TIME - 0746 PM HST 10 MAR 2011
   COORDINATES - 38.3 NORTH  142.4 EAST
   LOCATION    - NEAR EAST COAST OF HONSHU  JAPAN
   MAGNITUDE   - 8.9  MOMENT
MEASUREMENTS OR REPORTS OF TSUNAMI WAVE ACTIVITY
 GAUGE LOCATION        LAT   LON    TIME        AMPL         PER
 TOSASHIMIZU SHIKOKU  32.8N 133.0E  0946Z   0.84M /  2.8FT  28MIN
 ADAK AK              51.9N 176.6W  1034Z   0.35M /  1.2FT  22MIN
 YAP FM                9.5N 138.1E  1013Z   0.15M /  0.5FT  88MIN
 LEGASPI PH           13.1N 123.8E  1022Z   0.29M /  1.0FT  **MIN
 MIDWA               28.2N 177.4W  1028Z   1.56M /  5.1FT  80MIN
 DART 21415           50.2N 171.8E  0845Z   0.27M /  0.9FT  52MIN
 WAKE US              19.3N 166.6E  0928Z   0.39M /  1.3FT  14MIN
 NAHA OKINAWA JP      26.2N 127.7E  0901Z   0.25M /  0.8FT  60MIN
 SAIPAN US            15.2N 145.7E  0916Z   0.65M /  2.1FT  30MIN
 OMAEZAKI HONSHU JP   34.6N 138.2E  0818Z   1.42M /  4.6FT  56MIN
 DART 21419           44.5N 155.7E  0716Z   0.40M /  1.3FT  20MIN
 DART 21413           30.5N 152.1E  0659Z   0.76M /  2.5FT  32MIN
 HANASAKI HOKKAIDO J  43.3N 145.6E  0657Z   2.79M /  9.2FT  76MIN
 DART 21401           42.6N 152.6E  0643Z   0.67M /  2.2FT  40MIN
 DART 21418           38.7N 148.7E  0619Z   1.08M /  3.5FT  06MIN
 LAT  - LATITUDE (N-NORTH, S-SOUTH)
 LON  - LONGITUDE (E-EAST, W-WEST)
 TIME - TIME OF THE MEASUREMENT (Z IS UTC IS GREENWICH TIME)
 AMPL - TSUNAMI AMPLITUDE MEASURED RELATIVE TO NORMAL SEA LEVEL.
        IT IS ...NOT... CREST-TO-TROUGH WAVE HEIGHT.
        VALUES ARE GIVEN IN BOTH METERS(M) AND FEET(FT).
 PER  - PERIOD OF TIME IN MINUTES(MIN) FROM ONE WAVE TO THE NEXT.
 NOTE - DART MEASUREMENTS ARE FROM THE DEEP OCEAN AND THEY
        ARE GENERALLY MUCH SMALLER THAN WOULD BE COASTAL
         MEASUREMENTS AT SIMILAR LOCATIONS.

[trapeze]

When words just won't do...



Link to the original picture which is in high def. You can see tremendous detail.

[Pandora]

Pacific Command just announced all ships will stay in port (in Hawaii)

Per rayra, 3:43 a.m.

[Libertas]

Yeah, I haven't hard any issues for 7th Fleet, and Marine bases in Japan were cleared from coastal areas as soon as the word got out, so the military seems pretty on top of everything.

Some info -

http://www.defense.gov/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=63119