Japan Earthquake and Tsunami!

[thrawn]

Reports on an overheating nuclear power station in Japan. This is going from bad to worse

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/mar/11/japan-declares-nuclear-emergency-quake

Yep. Just heard a report on the tv that they are evacuating people near the Fukushima plant. Apparently the military have been seen around in full chemical hazard suits. Not good at all

 

[krebs303]

tsunami supposed to hit west coast California about 8:00-8:30am PST. I'm about 150ft above sea level but only about 500 yards from the water but I have a lot of uphill behind me to retreat. I'll go out on the deck with my camera and hope there is nothing to take a photo of.
Just got up going to grab some coffee and turn on CNN

 

[Ney the Viking]

Welll the tsunarmi alert systems works at least. I got a sister in law that is visiting a small island group north of fiji, and they got contacted by some officials and got escorted to a different island that actually had some high ground. So things are being done, but some of the remote small islands in the pacific may have some real problems and casualties

Oh and with regards to the powerplant, its good that they are being cautious, but chances of actual leaks, or even a meltdown is slim to none.

 

[gregod]

the biggest worry right now is a nuclear reactor's cooling system shutdown. a town is being evacuated...

 

[Ney the Viking]

the biggest worry right now is a nuclear reactor's cooling system shutdown. a town is being evacuated...

I hardly think thats the biggest worry. Tens of thousands of people will become homeless, and in the small pacific islands there is serious risk of thousands of people dying. Its quite ok to take serious precautions with the powerplant, but anything more than a small radioactive leak is quite unprobable. Yes it is still serious, but not on the scale of the rest of the catastrophe.

 

[thirteen]

WSJ:

Japanese police say 200 to 300 bodies have been found in a northeastern coastal area where a massive earthquake spawned a tsunami.

The bodies were found in Sendai city, the closest major city to the epicenter. The magnitude 8.9 quake and 23-foot (7-meter) tsunami were followed by more than 50 aftershocks for hours, many of them of more than magnitude 6.0.

and that's just this early...

 

[thirteen]

oof, great timing -- just received an email for great deals on Hawaii holidays

not liking what i'm hearing from there right now, but hopefully it won't build any more.

 

[krebs303]

I heard earlier on CNN 4,000,000 with out power in Tokyo.

 

[Ferminal]

Horrible news, saw a few pictures but not sure I can look at the TV...

 

[Escarabajo]

WSJ:

and that's just this early...

Magnitude of 8.9! that is huge.

Best wishes for the people of Japan.

 

[Susan Westemeyer]

Horrible news, saw a few pictures but not sure I can look at the TV...

This. I was thankful I have to do situation for the Paris-Nice live report, so I have something else to concentrate on and don't have time to look at the pictures and films from Japan.

Susan

 

[thirteen]

This. I was thankful I have to do situation for the Paris-Nice live report, so I have something else to concentrate on and don't have time to look at the pictures and films from Japan.

unfortunately i'm watching because i want to follow what's going on in Hawaii.

the reports from Japan just get more devastating by the hour... probably best not look.

 

[flicker]

hits cali in 10 minutes( monterey, going to a hill close by to watch 730pst.

 

[thirteen]

hits cali in 10 minutes( monterey, going to a hill close by to watch 730pst.

give us a report when you come back.

 

[on3m@n@rmy]

thanks for the heads up Alpe.
Terrible. Terrible. Terrible. Terrible. Terrible. Terrible. Terrible. Terrible. Terrible. Terrible. Terrible. Terrible. Terrible. Terrible. Terrible. Terrible.

Hearts out to all the Japaneese and others affected by this.

 

[RedheadDane]

Scary **** right there!

 

[on3m@n@rmy]

Hawaii has appeared to escape major damage. The entire west coast USA is on tsunami watch. My question is will Malaysia and maybe parts of Australia (which are closer than HA and US) be affected? Hope not.

 

[mewmewmew13]

Just horrible, am thinking about all those people in Japan...we have friends in Tokyo they are safe...but heartbroken for all others ...

Thirteen, your family members are ok?

Krebs, how is it going down there??

 

[GreasyMonkey]

Getting worse....

From CNN live blog -

[12:06 p.m. ET, 2:06 a.m. Tokyo] Radiation level rising in Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant turbine building, Kyodo News Agency reports.

 

[Cobblestoned]

Nature can be very cruel.

Wishing all the best to Japan people.
I think they had a lot of that earlier in history - but that one was really huge, especially that wave.

 

[RDV4ROUBAIX]

I have a group of friends snowboarding in Niseko for a couple weeks. They were having an epic powder morning of first tracks then the quaking started. 2 fairly large aftershocks to contend with too. Crazy sh!t!

 

[Escarabajo]

Some Headlines:

5th largest quake on record devastates Japan
Tsunami rocks Japan coast | Pressure rising at nuke plant | Waves reach Hawaii, US mainland

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/

 

[Escarabajo]

Tsunami waves from Japan quake hit California coast
2 hours ago.

Key details

•First waves hit Crescent City, Calif., Port Orford, Ore., at 10:30 a.m. ET Friday
•Boats torn loose in Santa Cruz, Calif.
•Initial reports from Hawaii indicate no serious damage
•Evacuations ordered in low-lying West Coast areas
•Port of Los Angeles temporarily suspends cargo operations

 

[krebs303]

Everything is OK here the surf about doubled in size for a while but the swells were not to big to begin with. Japan has really taken a major hit. The videos look like something out of a movie.

 

[flicker]

Tsunami waves from Japan quake hit California coast
2 hours ago.

An example was a surfer in Santacruz had to walk 1/4 mile because the water went out, low tide anyway. Very minor action only noticable to those paying attention. The big one (earthquake) will hit here again, someday.