Earthquake (8.9magnitude) & Tsunami hits Tokyo

Mr_Mumble

imho, best up-do-date news in English:
http://english.kyodonews.jp/news/

The Internets is awesome. A Japanese couple broadcasting for folk in Japan who don't know the language and are relaying info from Japanese TV and Internet in English:
http://www.!!!!!!!!!!!/channel/yokosonews

edit: don't know why u.s.t.r.e.a.m.t.v is censored here but that's the domain name required before the rest of the url.

One amusing infotainment story they relayed: always give your pets a treat after an earthquake, positive reinforcement!

Wheezy_2

Mr_Mumble wrote: »

http://www.!!!!!!!!!!!/channel/yokosonews

edit: don't know why u.s.t.r.e.a.m.t.v is censored here but that's the domain name required before the rest of the url.

Thanks for the links.
The censoring is probably to prevent you typing stuff like !!!!!!!!

zappahey

Blacklight wrote: »

Interesting to note ....

It's really not.

Davesnave

Out,_Vile_Jelly wrote: »

There's some guff on a thread in Discussion Time speculating whether a apparent "super moon" could have caused today's earthquake and tsunami.

The Moon is closer to the Earth than it normally is so there's nothing 'apparent' about that. As we learned in primary school, the Moon's mass creates sufficient gravitational force to cause physical phenomena on Earth.

Whether there is any possbility that a closer pass of the Moon could trigger earthquakes is debatable, but the cause of earthquakes is well documented, so the two things shouldn't be confused.

I haven't read the thread in DT. I'm only awake now because of a power cut which caused our phone to shout out that it was resetting... No doubt Western Power Distribution will blame the Moon as well!

julieq

Reports of probable nuclear meltdown this morning, so this isn't looking good at all. And some horrific pictures generally. The one haunting me in particular is a car swirling round with the rear wipers still on.

But you have to wonder what the effect of insurance payouts will be in Japan. It will be a massive wealth transfer from the insurance industry to manufacturing, and you'd be surprised if there wasn't a stimulus effect.

vivatifosi

julieq wrote: »

Reports of probable nuclear meltdown this morning, so this isn't looking good at all. And some horrific pictures generally. The one haunting me in particular is a car swirling round with the rear wipers still on.

But you have to wonder what the effect of insurance payouts will be in Japan. It will be a massive wealth transfer from the insurance industry to manufacturing, and you'd be surprised if there wasn't a stimulus effect.

I feel the same julieq, the picture that haunts me is the lone figure trying to outrun the tsunami. They were some way ahead of it but it was approaching fast. The film cut before you saw the outcome, but you can guess what it was as there was no obstacle or incline to stop its course. Nobody with an ounce of compassion in their body can fail to feel terrible sadness at all this.

In terms of the insurance, one thing I have heard on the news is that a lot of Japan is underinsured against earthquakes because of the cost of insuring against such eventualities and the way risk is calculated there. Following Kobe, insured losses were just 3% of actual losses (see http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/03/11/us-japan-quake-insurers-idUSTRE72A6KV20110311). Just imagine, your house is swept away and you have no money to replace it, meanwhile the medium sized business you work for goes to the wall because it too has no earthquake or business interruption cover.

There are also reports of an explosion being heard and workers injured at the power station. Walls and roof destroyed in blast. Breaking news now. Edit: nuclear expert saying unlikely to be at generator itself.

ChiefGrasscutter

Commodies should be going up in value as Japan will need raw materials for
the rebuilding program, and if the nuclear stations are going to be off line for a while - if only for full inspections then they are going to need lots of oil/coal/gas to compensate for lost generation from them.

Yesterday would have been a good day to bury some unwanted news.
N. Korea for instance could have got away with doing another underground Nuclear test...the seismic signatures are quite different from an earthquake but no one would have cared.

Degenerate

Davesnave wrote: »

The Moon is closer to the Earth than it normally is so there's nothing 'apparent' about that. As we learned in primary school, the Moon's mass creates sufficient gravitational force to cause physical phenomena on Earth.

Whether there is any possbility that a closer pass of the Moon could trigger earthquakes is debatable, but the cause of earthquakes is well documented, so the two things shouldn't be confused.

Indeed, whilst there certainly isn't a scientifically proven link, it's not so ridiculous to theorize that the moon can have such effects. The earth does not behave as a rigid body, the moon's gravity pulls a bulge out on the surface which causes the tides (it's not just moving the water as many people suppose) so effects on tectonic plate movement are plausible. Perhaps a "super moon" can be enough to push things past the tipping point where accumulated stresses release in an earthquake, who knows.

StevieJ

I have been offline for a few days, one question, was there a quake in Japan on Wednesday, maybe a minor one prior to this horror? either that or I had a premonition.

Degenerate

StevieJ wrote: »

I have been offline for a few days, one question, was there a quake in Japan on Wednesday, maybe a minor one prior to this horror? either that or I had a premonition.

Yes. I recall reports of that (as we now know) foreshock, and reports of a tsunami warning at the time.