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Earthquake, tsunami and nuclear disasters in Japan


Tim Harris

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Yes its Incredible but so us all the inland footage and this is a 33ft wave its hard to believe what a 100ft wave would do.

Fingers crossed this 33ft wave is a lot smaller when it hits Hawaii

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Dreadful scenes of destruction from the wave... unfortunately so much of that part of Japan is flat, so the water just kept pushing and pushing inland, taking many people by surprise.

The footage is compelling but utterly awful to observe  :(

My heart goes out to those caught up in this event.

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this is a 33ft wave its hard to believe what a 100ft wave would do

With Tsunami's it's not so much the wave that is the issue, it's ocean swell behind it that does the inland penetration. A normal large ocean wave will disipate energy very quickly when it reaches the coast, hence all the huge waves that surfers go for, once they reach the beach they collapse and it's no issue. With a tsunami the whole ocean bulges behind the wave, so you get a mass of flood water pushing inland.

Russ.

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It's horrible to watch that Japan footage. You can see people on the roads who lack the vantage point of the chopper, and they're heading towards the wave in some cases. It's hard to imagine that sort of destruction without loss of life, but I'm hoping it's minimal. Doesn't look good at this point.

Over on this side of the Pacific we've felt it, too. There were waves along the Oregon and California coasts this morning - some as high as 2m or more. Fortunately, it was during low tide as I understand it. With the exception of some devastated marinas and a lot of lost boats, the damage here has been contained.

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Oh dear this is going bad to worse...Japan's nuclear safety agency has confirmed the damaged Fukushima No 1 has been leaking radiation outside the plant, there are now also reports from nuclear plant operator Tepco that the Fukushima No 2 plant has lost cooling to three of its reactors

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I heard that they were actually letting out the low radiation vapour or heat or something because it was just getting far too hot in the reactor and it was better to let out the low level stuff than have the whole thing melt down.

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Never been so scared in my life. I was in a subway in central Tokyo when it hit and the whole train felt like it was going to derail. When we did eventually make it out of the subway there was a second earthquake (not simple aftershock) and tsunami warnings blaring out everywhere. Couldn't get in touch with my ex and daughter who live near the coast for 2 hours as the phone network was down but luckily could get internet signal after a while so managed to confirm they were ok, then spent 5 hours walking home to see them. It felt like a movie, the streets were crowded with people walking home, even in the suburbs.

Just got back to my own apartment which is like a war zone, but we were much luckier in Tokyo than in the NE, despite the frequent aftershocks (three strong ones last night and regular small ones about 20 mins apart). Hope for the best for everyone affected.

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Never been so scared in my life. I was in a subway in central Tokyo when it hit and the whole train felt like it was going to derail. When we did eventually make it out of the subway there was a second earthquake (not simple aftershock) and tsunami warnings blaring out everywhere. Couldn't get in touch with my ex and daughter who live near the coast for 2 hours as the phone network was down but luckily could get internet signal after a while so managed to confirm they were ok, then spent 5 hours walking home to see them. It felt like a movie, the streets were crowded with people walking home, even in the suburbs.

Just got back to my own apartment which is like a war zone, but we were much luckier in Tokyo than in the NE, despite the frequent aftershocks (three strong ones last night and regular small ones about 20 mins apart). Hope for the best for everyone affected.

Glad your family is ok mate - thoughts to all in Japan.

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from what i saw there didn't seem to be any planes there, good to see family is safe,

Just looked at the Sendai scheduled aircraft movements and it would appear that two commercial flights were scheduled to leave at 14.30 and 14.35 to Sapporo and Osaka respectively with a flight due to land at 14.55 from Osaka.

The quake struck at 14.46 and the tsunami 15 or so minutes later. I guess the Osaka flight would have been waved away as the airport was probably immediately shutdown by the tower. It is also posible they may have seen it coming or at least suspected it.

Andy b

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Scotchegg:  thank you for your post, the entire experience would have been terrifying and then frustrating as you tried to contact your family and finally get back home.

I know that words can be trite, but as you can see your friends on this forum have you in their thoughts.  I hope all goes as well as it can, under the horrible circumstances where the Australian floods, Cyclone Yasi, and the Christchurch earthquake show the horror of the event is replaced by the hell of the clean-up.

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Oh dear this is going bad to worse...Japan's nuclear safety agency has confirmed the damaged Fukushima No 1 has been leaking radiation outside the plant, there are now also reports from nuclear plant operator Tepco that the Fukushima No 2 plant has lost cooling to three of its reactors

Looks like the no1 reactor has exploded now... this is horrendous.  The news is very sketchy, but it certainly looks like a very serious failure, with the potential for massive contamination.

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Worried, My cousin Peter and his wife Akiko live in Kyoto. They are OK, but now radition?, thier daughter Vickie is a teacher i  Tokyo, and single, she is Ok too, but don't know about her fiance. Her brother, Glenn is a software dev in Silicon Valley

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Thanks Ian, that's nice of you.

Cathy your friends in Kyoto should be fine, and in Tokyo we're getting lots of aftershocks of 3 or 4 magnitude which will go on for a few weeks so I'm sure a quick "thinking of you" to Vicki would be appreciated!

It really is the people further North (Fukushima, Miyagi, Iwate) that need our prayers. Not only do they have the reactor to worry about but they're also getting regular aftershocks of 6, sometimes 7 magnitude while they try and find loved ones and assess / clear up the damage.

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Yes, anyone south of Tokyo should be OK. My place was trashed when I got home and the aftershocks are no fun, but Tokyo has got off pretty lightly so far.

In the north its just horrible, very hard to take in.

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I was also in my office in Tokyo during the earthquake.  Very scary.  Walked 2+ hours home.  We were lucky not to have damage to our home, but so many were less fortunate.  This sort of thing makes one reassess what's really important.

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Here are earthquake images, including Sendai airport, from Boston.com - The Big Picture.

Thanks for posting that link Alex. It's only when you put some time to one side, sit yourself down and really engage with those sorts of pictures that the immensity of this terrible disaster can be realised. I cannot even imagine what these poor souls are having to endure, and now with the threat of a nuclear leak being talked about... sheesh :'(

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