Earthquake, Tsunami and Nuclear Disaster In Japan

[Ocklawaha]

WEIRD HISTORY?

Honshu Island Japan was devastated by an earthquake and the Stratovolcano "AKAGI" in 1938, and America came to the rescue.    

The similar magnitude Shakotan-oki, earthquake of Aug. 1, 1940, in Japan was followed by a massive American relief effort. 57 day's later Japan signed the Tripartite Pact considered a not so veiled warning to the USA. Tons of supplies went to the Japanese Islands and one year, 4 months and 7 days later, they gave some of it back to us as a different "AKAGI," launched death and destruction at Pearl Harbor.

Tripartite Pact Signed in Berlin

“On September 27, 1940, Japan, whose sympathies lay with Germany and Italy, signed a ten-year pact with these two countries."





I'm not suggesting we change a thing, and that we continue to help our friends and families in Japan, today and tomorrow, I just thought the story's were interesting. Helping is the one major area where the United States still leads the world. Please, let's make an example and assist Japan in this hour of need.

In response to the quake, The Red Cross has already launched efforts in Japan. Visit Redcross.org or text REDCROSS to 90999 to donate $10 from your phone.

Save the Children has also responded. Eiichi Sadamatsu of the organization released a statement, saying:

    "We are extremely concerned for the welfare of children and their families who have been affected by the disaster. We stand ready to meet the needs of children who are always the most vulnerable in a disaster."

The organization is currently organizing efforts and donations to their Children's Emergency Fund will support their outreach.

The Japan Earthquake and Tsunami Relief Fund was launched at GlobalGiving.org to garner funds for relief organizations helping victims and has already raised thousands, particularly from concerned Twitter users around the world. The project page explains:

    This project will disburse funds to organizations providing relief and emergency services to victims of the earthquake and tsunami.

For any who have loved ones abroad, Google has stepped up to help. Along with a tsunami alert posted on their front page, they've launched the Person Finder to help connect people that may have been displaced due to the disaster.

Some of us will never change!

OCKLAWAHA

[Timkin]

We should help and pray for these people.  But by the grace of God, it could be us .

[simms3]

Good thing America is such a generous country with a great, far-reaching military to help countries like Japan (and SE Asia 6 years ago) with their earthquakes.

The earthquakes continue to rumble in Japan with at least a 6.0+ every hour.  It must be a nightmare over there.  11 nuclear reactors not functioning with one that was on the verge of a meltdown (and our very own Air Force saved the day by delivering extra coolant).

Looks like over 80,000 are still missing, including a few trains that have gone completely missing and a large ferry filled with people that is still completely missing.  One airport filled with thousands of almost-passengers was inundated and surrounded by the tsunami, and those people are still trapped in the airport.

Thailand offering $165,000.
Poland offering some firefighters.
Australia sending money (undisclosed) and equipment.
45 countries have initially offered aid.

I have to say it, but nobody's aid will even come close to what the US has already done just in the past 12 hours in helping Japan and its people.

[Timkin]

Completely agree with you , Simms....and as far as I know, that is how it has always been....... I wonder, were the situation the other way around , how many countries we could count on to help us?


Still.....I cannot help but be extremely sympathetic to these people.  The horrific videos I have witnessed today, paint an extremely bleak picture in that region, and the quakes continue.

May God help them 

[Lunican]

Here is a video of buildings swaying.

http://www.youtube.com/v/JhJzdtzl6KY?fs=1&hl=en_US

[JeffreyS]

Wow.

[Lunican]

http://www.youtube.com/v/4YPOK_3r8Dc?fs=1&hl=en_US

[heights unknown]

We're next; and if we're not, it's right around the corner!

"HU"

[Ocklawaha]

IT CAN HAPPEN HERE-HELL I'M HERE!

CHARLESTON SC EARTHQUAKE 1886

CHARLESTON

How did I miss this one? In my lifetime I have managed to get myself into The Sylmar Earthquake that hit the San Fernando Valley near Sylmar, California at 6:00:55 a.m. PST in 1971. The next show was the Landers Earthquake. TIME June 28, 1992 / 4:57:31 am PDT a magnitude 7.3 and it tore the shit out of my desert place with is about 2,000 feet west of the "extinct fault" and 30 miles south of the "extinct Amboy Volcanic Cone". I was on the north slope of Mt. Hood, in Oregon within plain sight of the Mount St. Helens (some wackos claimed it was a volcano) then it erupted on May 18, 1980 with an earthquake measuring 5.1 on the Richter scale. Then your intrepid neighbor was back in Colombia when activity began at Nevado del Huila Volcano in February after being dormant for 450 years. The eruption was preceded by tornillo earthquakes, with 105 measured between March 2006 and February 2007, including an early morning temblor that knocked most of Medellin out of bed.

Then there were the storms... Hurricane Donna in 1960 a Category 4 storm that FLOODED JACKSONVILLE, and then in 1964 Jacksonville took a direct hit with Hurricane Dora, another Category 4 storm. Let me tell you youngsters that whatever we had going at the beaches, by the time Dora left town...IT WAS OVER. Then on August 17, 1969, I was traveling back to California and managed to get crosswise of CAMILE a full blown category 5 storm, I was hunkered down in a hotel in Mobile (smart move NE side of the storm) while she wiped out the gulf coast. OOPS 1992 and down by Lake Okeechobee we got slammed by Andrew and again I was just northeast of the monster category 4 storm. In 2004 I got an apartment in Heathrow as we moved back and forth from Colombia, just in time for Charlie, Francis and Jeanne...wet but not strong enough to get me. As soon as I got back to Jacksonville we had Tropical Storm Fay.

There was also that May 3, 1999 Tornado swarm in Oklahoma, and I got to assist Oklahoma Search and Rescue in the longest span of sleepless work in my life... about 42 hours straight, followed by a 2 hour nap, then another 24+.  But "Have you ever seen a category 5 on the  Fujita Tornado Intensity Scale?" YOUR DAMN STRAIGHT I HAVE, two of them!

As I keep saying, don't get too comfortable fellow Jaxson's.  Just because it hasn't happened on this scale doesn't mean we are immune, the fact that a fairly large fault line runs under St. Augustine, and another east coast fault ends near Jacksonville. We are in fact in the same range of likely earthquake activity as Central Oregon and Washington, Southern Nevada, Arizona, New England, and most of South Carolina, Missouri and Wyoming. SO SMILE, we're still here!

Historic Earthquakes

Near St. Augustine, St. Johns County, Florida
1879 01 13 04:45 UTC (local Jan 12)
Intensity VI

Largest Earthquake in Florida

Plaster was shaken down and articles were thrown from shelves at St. Augustine and, to the south, at Daytona Beach. At Tampa, a trembling motion was preceded by a rumbling sound. Felt from a line joining Tallahassee, Florida, to Savannah, Georgia, on the north to a line joining Punta Rassa and Daytona Beach, Florida, on the south. Two shocks occurred, each lasting 30 seconds.
SOURCE:  http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/states/events/1879_01_13.php

Florida Earthquake Rocks State, Experts Baffled
By Robert Hernandez
Sep 12, 2006

A Florida earthquake seems an oddity.  But a strong 6.0 earthquake hit in the gulf just outside of Florida and rocked the state over the weekend.  The quake sent shockwaves from Louisiana to Florida on Sept. 10, but was not powerful enough to trigger a tsunami.

While offshore earthquakes often generate concern about the potential for tsunamis the relatively shallow water of the Gulf of Mexico is not conducive to the generation of such waves and the broad continental shelf along the U.S. Gulf Coast serves as a break for these long-period waves, reports the USGS.

“This fault is not likely to contain enough elastic strength to cause any problems along the Florida coast,” said Paul Wetmore, a professor of seismic geology at the University of South Florida. “It will never slip with enough energy to cause a tsunami.”

***

The quake has experts baffled.  The St. Petersburg Times reports that the quake generated from a fault nobody knew existed before it produced the strong earthquake Sunday in the Gulf of Mexico.

It doesn’t appear on any geological maps.

No seismic monitoring occurs in that part of the gulf, so scientists are uncertain where the fault is or where the quake took place.

***

This event was centered far offshore -- about 250 miles south-southwest of Apalachicola, Fla. -- yet it was widely felt. From Texas to Florida, and as far north as North Carolina, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) received online reports from more than 5000 people representing nearly 1000 zip codes.

According to the USGS National Earthquake Information Center in Golden, Colo. this is the largest of more than a dozen earthquakes that have been recorded from the eastern Gulf of Mexico in the past three decades, and it is the most widely felt. The previous significant earthquake in the region occurred on February 10, 2006 and had a magnitude of 5.2.

***

Experts say they will not look for the fault line.  “We knew of no causative faults in the Gulf of Mexico that could produce a quake of this magnitude. Now we know there is one down there somewhere, but it’s not a big deal.”
SOURCE:  http://www.nationalledger.com/cgi-bin/artman/exec/view.cgi?archive=4&num=8343

JUST LIKE JACKSONVILLE!

BET IT LOOKS LIKE YOUR BACKYARD

Charleston sits upon the Coastal Plains sediments, a region of sedimentary rocks reaching from the Appalachian Mountains to the Atlantic coast. Reaching thicknesses upwards of 1 km, these sediments were deposited over the course of millions of years and are highly prone to liquefaction.

No surface faulting was observed after the 1886 quake, though several fissures were reported parallel to streams and canals in the epicentral area. There was widespread ground liquefaction and formation of sand craterlets, some more than 6.4 meters wide. Sand ejection and water spouts were also widely reported.

Scientists believe that the 1886 quake originated not in these sediments but in faults in the underlying basement rock. These faults do not extend to the surface, hampering efforts to characterize them via standard surface observations.
SOURCE:  http://blog.rehava.com/charlestons-1886-earthquake

Florida

Earthquake History

Although Florida is not usually considered to be a state subject to earthquakes, several minor shocks have occurred there. Only one of these caused damage. Additional shocks of doubtful seismic origin also are listed in earthquake documents.

A shock occurred near St. Augustine, in the northeast part of the State, in January 1879. The Nation's oldest permanent settlement, founded by Spain in 1565, reported that heavy shaking knocked plaster from walls and articles from shelves. Similar effects were noted at Daytona Beach, 50 miles south. At Tampa, the southernmost point of the felt area, the trembling was preceded by a rumbling sound at 11:30 p.m. Two shocks were reported in other areas, at 11:45 p.m. and 11:55 p.m. The tremor was felt through north and central Florida, and at Savannah, Georgia.

In January 1880, Cuba was the center of two strong earthquakes that sent severe shock waves through the town of Key West, Florida. The tremors occurred at 11 p.m. on January 22 and at 4 a.m. on the 23rd. At Buelta Abajo and San Christobal, Cuba, many buildings were thrown down and some people were killed.

The next tremor to be felt by Floridians also centered outside the State. It was the famous Charleston, South Carolina, shock in August 1886. The shock was felt throughout northern Florida, ringing church bells at St. Augustine and severely jolting other towns along that section of Florida's east coast. Jacksonville residents felt many of the strong aftershocks that occurred in September, October, and November 1886.

On June 20, 1893, Jacksonville experienced another slight shock, apparently local, that lasted about 10 seconds. Another minor earthquake shook Jacksonville at 11:15 a.m., October 31, 1900. It caused no damage.

A sudden jar caused doors and windows to rattle at Captiva in November 1948. The apparent earthquake was accompanied by sounds like distant heavy explosions. Captiva is located on Captiva Island, in the Gulf west of Fort Myers.

On November 18, 1952, a slight tremor was felt by many at Quincy, a small town about 20 miles northwest of Tallahassee. Windows and doors rattled, but no serious effects were noted.
SOURCE:  http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/states/florida/history.php

OCKLAWAHA 

[BridgeTroll]

http://www.stripes.com/news/at-misawa-cold-miserable-and-scared-people-1.137385

At Misawa, 'cold, miserable and scared people'
By Patrick Dickson
Stars and Stripes
Published: March 11, 2011

For several hours after the first quake struck, Misawa Air Base on the Pacific coast of northern Japan was in a blackout.

Just a 30-minute drive from Hachinohe, where a 13-foot tsunami wave pushed boats and debris miles inland, Misawa personnel had scrambled for the high ground, but the water did not come.

Here is a firsthand report phoned in by Stars and Stripes web editor T.D. Flack:

“At 2:40, the buildings on the base began rocking and swaying. At the Torii building, the big building on base that’s home to the Red Cross, people fled to the parking lot.

“Kids were crying; it was a really long shaking â€" not a super rough ‘up and down’ but a constant swaying. Telephone poles and light poles were swaying and squeaking.

“Water poured out the front door of the pool building â€" it was bizarre. The quake was so strong that water rushed out of the pool, and out of the front door and down the steps, into the street.

“The base was in the middle of an exercise, and immediately switched to recovery efforts, using the loudspeaker system.

“All power was lost immediately, as were cell phones. No Internet, no cell phones, no communication at all.

“The off-base emergency system was launched, and emergency announcements were broadcast in English and Japanese.

“Off-base convenience stores, like the 7-Eleven, were jammed as people scrambled to buy water, food and batteries. It’s especially bad, as temperature dropped below freezing, with some snow flurries.

“As of 8 p.m., the base remained almost completely black, save for some buildings with generator back-up. All we can assume is people are hunkering down and bundling up because there’s no heat. It’s brutal.

“There were two big fears: one, that the tsunami would reach far enough inland â€" two miles â€" to swamp the base.

“The second was the nuclear power plant Rokkasho. (The Rokkasho nuclear reprocessing facility was being powered by emergency diesel generators. No other unusual events or radiation leaks have been reported.)

“There’s a bunch of cold, miserable and scared people, wrapped in blankets, and waiting for the next aftershock.

As we spoke, Flack was making sure his kids were warm enough; he had moved his whole family into his office for the night, which others in his building had also done.

Then, another wave of aftershocks.

“I gotta go.”

[BridgeTroll]

http://www.stripes.com/news/military-personnel-facilities-in-japan-survive-quake-tsunami-unscathed-1.137430

Military personnel, facilities in Japan survive quake, tsunami unscathed
Stars and Stripes
Published: March 11, 2011

Some 86,000 U.S. servicemembers, civilian defense employees and their family members in Japan are believed safe after a massive one-two punch from a historic earthquake and ensuing tsunami, Defense Department officials said Friday morning.

“All of the different forces in Japan and in the surrounding area are going through 100 percent accountability checks,” said Col. Dave Lapan, a Pentagon spokesman. “So far everyone’s been accounted for, but those accountability checks are going on in those locations.”

There had been no significant damage to U.S. ships, aircraft, or facilities, either, Lapan said.

“While we can positively confirm right now the U.S. assets, we can’t forget the Japanese population,” Lapan said.

Witnesses have reported hundreds of bodies floating in water left behind by massive waves that hit eastern Japan after the magnitude-8.9 quake.

Eyewitness reports indicated that one of the hardest hit U.S. facilities appears to be one closest to the epicenter of the quake off the east coast Honshu: Misawa Air Base lost electricity and telecommunications after the massive quake, and technicians were still struggling to bring power back up many hours later.

Meanwhile at the Yokosuka Naval Base, personnel were barred from tall buildings that are feared to have sustained quake-related damage. The carrier USS George Washington is currently docked at Yokosuka undergoing maintenance, but the area felt little effects from the tsunami, officials said.

Sasebo Naval Base and Yokota Air Base are also believed to have escaped damage.

Yokota, located outside Tokyo, accepted civilian flights diverted from Narita Airport, which suffered damaged terminals. Airport officials were handing out water, crackers and blankets as evening arrived.

“Not leaving anytime soon,” one passenger told a Stars and Stripes editor.

Some 537 passengers aboard two Delta airliners were being housed overnight at Yokota’s community center until the planes could fly out Saturday, base spokeswoman Capt. Tania Bryan said. Another nine aircraft were expected to leave Yokota later Friday night, and no additional diverted planes were expected at Yokota, she said.

From Japan to Hawaii to the U.S. West Coast, personnel and equipment near coastlines were moved out of the way of tsunami waves. Their power was evident on Guam, where the submarines USS Houston and USS City of Corpus Christi broke free from their mooring lines. Tug boats from Naval Base Guam responded quickly, and both submarines are safe, a base official said.

Army sources reported that aviation assets in Pacific regions had been moved to higher ground. On Okinawa, Marine Corps Bases Japan announced that it had activated its Base Emergency Operations Center to monitor the situation and coordinate Marine Corps actions. Residents in low-lying areas on Camp Foster, lower Camp Lester and Camp Kinser have been evacuated as a precautionary measure.

Thousands of miles away, near San Diego, the U.S. Dubuque amphibious transport dock ship had set sail from Seal Beach Naval Weapons Station to avoid tsunami damage, officials said. Other ships at the facility were deemed safe.

[Lunican]

http://www.youtube.com/v/-LsruxmeEBc?fs=1&hl=en_US"%20type=

[Timkin]

Lord, have mercy.     

[Jason]

 Holy cow!  Those vidoes are astounding.

[Lunican]

Here is a another good video: https://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=1605260179420