Large quake, Tsunami hit Japan, coming to west coast

[CathyA]

An 8.9 quake occurred in the pacific. I guess it hit Japan's northeast coast really hard. Now they're telling people on the U.S. west coast and Hawaii to evacuate. Pretty scary stuff. I hope any of you in these areas stay safe.

[earthshepherd]

Just now watching all this on tv. Looks scary. I remember living in the Marshalls in 1964 when the big Alaska quake sent a tsunami throughout the Pacific. It washed into our islands without incident, but it was very frightening to be on a sea level island with a wave on the way. I was just a first grader.

[CathyA]

Its hard to watch the images on TV.......large boats and all sorts of debris spreading over the farm fields in Japan. I wonder what this means for more quakes around the rim. I wonder if this will affect Bae at all. Hopefully he's too far north. I know we have some people here in So Cal. I hope they'll be okay.

[CathyA]

Darn. DD just reminded me that a good friend of her's lives in that northern part of Japan. :(

[bae]

It's supposed to hit here in about 10 minutes. My mother and all her neighbors, who live right on the beach, are arriving in moments for an impromptu brunch here at my 1200 foot above sea level living room :-)

[CathyA]

I'm glad you're out of harm's way Bae, and I hope your mom's and her neighbors' homes make it through without damage.

[treehugger]

I can't make myself look at pictures of the destruction. My little brother lives in Japan, 2 prefectures away from where it hit, but he has already reported in safely. No power or water where he is, but that's nothing, relatively.

[danna]

Glad you are high bae and provide shelters to the rest....
treehugger glad to hear your little brother is safe

[bae]

It is coming through right this moment, it looks like it is less than a meter. The normal tidal range here is 2+ meters, and the tide was partially out to begin with, so it looks like no damage even at the most vulnerable spot, which is our village, which is at the end of a 10 mile long fjord that narrows and gets shallow at the village end....

[loosechickens]

so glad you are o.k., bae.......the first minute I heard "tsunami" I thought about you, and others of our members who might be in vulnerable places......

[JaneV2.0]

When I lived on the coast in the fifties we had a tsunami alert ("tidal wave" in those days). An amazing number of people headed for the beach with kids in tow while most of us headed for higher ground. :doh:

Those 9.0 earthquakes are awe-inspiring in their destructive power. I've been through smaller ones that (literally) rattled me, so I feel much sympathy for Japanese survivors today. And their reactor problem should certainly give us pause.

[bae]

I saw people today gathered on our most vulnerable beach here to watch the event... Even though the county emergency services people had pretty widely gotten the word out.

[Kestrel]

We lived in Crescent City CA five years ago (missed all the tsunamis!) and are very familiar with the area. As far as we know, all our friends are OK. Our house was about 1/2 mile from the ocean and I think was high enough to miss it tho we had a little creek running thru our back yard to the ocean, and who knows, water could have come up there, tho I doubt it. Sounds like they had 8' at the harbor. There was nothing but trees between us and the ocean. Beautiful beautiful area and in some ways we still miss it -- but not the rain! 60-80" a year is too much for me!

[bae]

So, I'm hoping all of you have at least 72 hours of food, water, and medical supplies on hand?


http://www.ready.gov/america/getakit/index.html

[peggy]

We lived in Japan for 3 years and still have friends there. haven't heard from them all, although I realize power isn't restored to them all. Keeping our fingers crossed. No one we know in the epicenter.
We went through several small earthquakes while there, ( and probably hundreds we weren't even aware of) and it's a weird feeling. You think a natural disaster should be noisy and messy, like tornadoes and hurricanes, but it starts eerily quietly with just the slow back and forth swaying and the quiet tick tick tick tick tick of the window glass clicking in it's frame. Of course, with one of this size, the smashing of glass and bottles quickly fills the still air.
My thoughts are with our Japanese brothers and sisters at this time.

[Mrs-M]

Most comforting to know that no one here has been affected, prayers to all those with loved ones who were affected. Will be keeping my fingers crossed.

[Heidi]

How tragic and what devastation! So many emergencies all at the same time. The devastated coast line and vanished cities, the fires ravaging neigborhoods, people without water, food and shelter, the nuclear emergency. I hope the nations are coming together again to assist this time Japan in need.
We live in California and are just as vulnerable. There is a 94% chance "the big one" will hit within the next 30 years (I just read that somewhere, can't give you the source). We also have many nuclear power plants in California, some close to the San Andreas faultline. San Francisco and Los Angeles would be affected.

[Gina]

I've been watching the news much of the day. What I am seeing and hearing is absolutely horrific. Earthquake, tsunami, cold weather, and a possible significant nuclear accident.

Just now on CNN they've announced that a meltdown in one of the troubled nuclear reactors might be happening, though there seems to be much confusion.


There is a 94% chance "the big one" will hit within the next 30 years (I just read that somewhere, can't give you the source).

I'm also in California and a friend just read this same thing to me. In SoCal where I am the number is 97%, and in NoCal, it's 94%.

I always keep an emergency supply of food, water, etc for emergencies, but judging from what I am seeing in Japan, there would be no way to get to them if the house collapsed.

[CathyA]

I watched some of the You Tube "home videos" of this. Its just unfathomable. On one of the videos, you could see the water covering up cars that had people in them.....and boats that were being tossed around with people on them. And now the possible nuclear melt down. Just unfathomable.

[screamingflea]

My mother has an admirable wanderlust, and she decided to spend a month in Japan. For three years she scrimped and saved, drooled over travel guides, and booked reservations with her best friend from her college days. She was to take off on the 21st. Needless to say, the trip is postponed indefinitely. She hasn't given up on it though.

The family called her up and sympathized with her disappointment. We all envied her with every step of her preparations. It dawned on me that, given the random nature of tectonic drift, I could easily have lost my mother two weeks from now.

I try never to take my loved ones for granted, because we never really know what's going to happen from day to day. It may sound perverse, but the lesson I've taken from yesterday is gratitude.

[CathyA]

I've been hearing that Japan has been shifted as much as 13 feet to the east. All of their GPS readings will have to be changed and things like nautical charts will have to be revised. Its crazy.

[ApatheticNoMore]

Oh yea the videos are unfathomable. The one of the tsunami taking the rice fields (they just look like any old fields) is absolutely incredible, when your realize what the size of even a small field is and it's just advancing on them with unreal rapidity. I mean, that's what the apocalypse, the end of the world, looks like.


I'm also in California and a friend just read this same thing to me. In SoCal where I am the number is 97%, and in NoCal, it's 94%.

Yes but it's always been that. I mean I'm not saying it doesn't have those odds of happening. But this has always been the case, I mean I have been hearing this for the last 30 years, really the entire of my life. Basically we know that.


I always keep an emergency supply of food, water, etc for emergencies, but judging from what I am seeing in Japan, there would be no way to get to them if the house collapsed.

I'd be happy if I survived and wasn't buried under rubble if the house collapsed on me (note I prefer one story apartments, I don't know if they are really safer or not, maybe it's more important that buildings be build post CA earthquake standards). I was absolutely convinced if there was ever an earthquake my last termite eaten shack would totally cave in on me. But who knows, maybe the whole town collapses, including my current place, and that old shack is still standing :).

By the way the death toll being higher than expected doesn't surprise me. I've always believed they underestimate how many an earthquake can kill even in our so called industrialized society with earthquake standards etc.. (give me a break most houses are really cheaply make junk and then a lot of the housing stock around here is really old too). HOWEVER the raw magnitude of that earthquake is shocking, I mean 8.9, who has even heard of an earthquake being that big?

By the way is the ring of fire getting more active or what? Seems more and bigger earthquakes lately. Probably just seems that way, I guess.

[CathyA]

One thing my DH pointed out to me, and its true, is the reserved behavior of all the Japanese people we're seeing on TV. There doesn't appear to be massive looting, etc. People are quietly standing in very long lines for food and water. Quite different from the behavior of people in some of the other disasters we've seen.

[peggy]

I've been watching the news much of the day. What I am seeing and hearing is absolutely horrific. Earthquake, tsunami, cold weather, and a possible significant nuclear accident.

Just now on CNN they've announced that a meltdown in one of the troubled nuclear reactors might be happening, though there seems to be much confusion.



I'm also in California and a friend just read this same thing to me. In SoCal where I am the number is 97%, and in NoCal, it's 94%.

I always keep an emergency supply of food, water, etc for emergencies, but judging from what I am seeing in Japan, there would be no way to get to them if the house collapsed.

I've often heard it's best to keep at least a small supply of food/water in a garden shed or some other small outbuilding just for this reason.

[ApatheticNoMore]

Hmm, perhaps in the car? Granted it's not ideal as you have to lug it around, but short of the laundry room being turned into water and food storage for everyone, I don't know where else ....

[RosieTR]

I try never to take my loved ones for granted, because we never really know what's going to happen from day to day. It may sound perverse, but the lesson I've taken from yesterday is gratitude.

I agree with that! I was thinking in the shower this morning: I have running water, I have food, all my family and friends are accounted for, my pets are safe, I have clean clothes, I have a bunch of comfort and luxury items to enjoy and it's a sunny day.

[loosechickens]

I'm with you, Rosie.....started thinking this morning that we are now spending parts of the year, literally just on the other side of the coastal hills from San Onofre and its aging power plant, right on the coast, like a sitting duck waiting for CA's "Big One", and then I thought....ah, well, it's a beautiful day, my family and friends are all right, I've got food, clothing and shelter, some money, have had a good life........c'est la vie.......

[CathyA]

I'm having trouble understanding why they can't get food/water/medical supplies to people in the destroyed areas. They keep saying the roads are gone. How about dropping that stuff by helicopter? Its been done all over the world, why not here?