Jesus H, head over to Sky News, 8.8 earthquake in Japan (11 March)

[Brian d marge]

Atleast other buildings across Japan are structurally well built.

According to my knowledge, ever since after the Great Hanshin Earthquake (in 1995) they've been building earthquake-proof multi storey buildings.

My thoughts and prayer goes out to all affected. There is nothing I can do but pray and hope aye?

They have and Canterbury uni and Tokyo have been working closely , our houses are very light and built differently to Nz ,, all the bridges are rubber mounted and the big high rises have Damping as per motorcycles ( active I think as in computer controlled but most likely wrong on that one )

Stephen

[onearmedbandit]

This is terrible terrible news. I've spent a bit of time there, my daughter is half-Japanese and thankfully she and her mother are her in Christchurch. I didn't think I'd be saying that in a hurry, 'lucky to be here in ChCh'.

I read this article a few days after our 'quake in February, the author considers the possibility of that affecting Japan.

http://www.japantoday.com/category/t...vity-for-japan

[Winston001]

Man the earth is doing some crazy stuff at present.

I know a lot of people feel the same way but I'm not sure anything unusual is happening though. Have a look here at the US Geological Survey list of killer earthquakes for the last 110 years: http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquak...rld_deaths.php There are heaps of them.


Earthquakes are normal. Unpredictable and bloody awful. But normal. Especially for countries on the edges of tectonic plates like Japan and NZ.

The difference we have today is digital camera technology and the internet. Disasters are made real as they occur. Our parents heard about this stuff on the radio, with more detail in the newspaper after a few days.

The other point is that there are 6.7 billion people on the planet today, many living on coastlines. The effect of disasters is magnified by the human impact because there are so many more vulnerable people.

As I type, a geologist is saying on TV that there isn't anything remarkable about the current earthquake activity. The Pacific Plate is moving around a bit but that's what plates do.

No comfort to the people of Japan. Its numbing watching the footage. Words fail me and I can only hope people survive.

[SpikedPunch]

My brother and his 7mo pregnant wife are in Tokyo right now. We finally heard from them at about 1am, big relief! Horrifying stuff watching this live. We have a family friend who lives in NZ but his Mum, Dad, Grandma and Sister are in one of the areas that has been hit by the tsunami, very worried about them.

[Brian d marge]

USGS Earthquakes monitoring... look at the size of those after shocks... fack me what a mess

yes I wish it would stop shaking

Sad news , they say 200 bodies have washed up on the beaches , not good

Going to be a long nite ( my two boys are sound asleep , couldnt care ....)


Hope it doesnt go to pear shaped to much more

( interesting about the power we are ok but just down the road ..nowt )

Stephen

[mrchips]

Holy Chite, this is crazy !

+ this..... Indonesian volcano erupts

Mother nature is kicking serious arse !

[marie_speeds]

Have to you agree with you Mr Chips about Mother Nature kicking ass....I had this very weird thought as I watched news late last night about the irony of the ocean wreaking such terrible havoc....

[Mom]

Sad news , they say 200 bodies have washed up on the beaches , not good

Stephen

Far canal. I am so worried about the people I know in Sendai. Please let them be safe!

[Hans]

I wonder how the Institute of Cetacean Research stood up. It'd be a shame if anything happened to them....

[Maha]

Give us a break Mother Earth will ya mind.

[Ocean1]

They are the most skilled designers of earthquake resistant infrastructure in the world, an absolute credit to the Japanese that their buildings withstand the seismic forces that they do.

They have and Canterbury uni and Tokyo have been working closely

An ex DSIR scientist developed the first effective base isolation systems. The developed world took notice and have been using them ever since.

The DSIR was fragmented and it's funding dispersed. The IP for the base isolators was more or less given away.

[Conquiztador]

Latest info says over 1,000 dead and number will rise.

Tsunami that arrived in NZ was 15cm. I am very pleased re that!

[Skyryder]

Hope they get this sorted.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...031103673.html

If not the quack and tsunami will pale in comparison.

More details

http://www.stuff.co.nz/world/asia/ja...er-Japan-quake


Skyryder

[carbonhed]

Looking at the footage of those tsunami's I'm busy recalculating just how far from the coast is "safe". Poor devils. Thoughts with them

[NighthawkNZ:Me]

Looking at the footage of those tsunami's I'm busy recalculating just how far from the coast is "safe". Poor devils. Thoughts with them

You can't go around living in your own wee safety bubble... nothing will get done, you start to worry about every thing else...

The further inland the closer you get to the major fault line, or in the north volcano... further south the big freeze could happen... do I live on the hill where a slip could happen, or on flat that could be reclaimed land and liquify... Do go inland

So Ok lets move to Aussie well they have the same problems flooding, bush fires Tsunami's and cyclons... at the end of the day it doesn't matter where we try and live on this rock a natrual disaster could hit you...

The best thing you can do is just be prepaid have your emergency kit ready to bug out at short notice... wouldn't start worrying about things as if and I say if it happens nothing you can do about it...