Largest Earthquake Ever Shakes Japan, Tsunami Alert For Hawaii, U.S. West Coast

[chefcraig]

60 killed in major tsunami after 8.9 Japan quake

YAHOO

TOKYO – A ferocious tsunami spawned by one of the largest earthquakes ever recorded slammed Japan's eastern coast Friday, killing at least 60 people as it swept away boats, cars and homes while widespread fires burned out of control. Tsunami warnings blanketed the entire Pacific, as far away as South America, Canada, Alaska and the entire U.S. West Coast.

The magnitude 8.9 offshore quake unleashed a 23-foot (7-meter) tsunami and was followed by more than 20 aftershocks for hours, most of them of more than magnitude 6.0.

Police said at least 60 people were killed and 56 were missing. The death toll was likely to continue climbing given the scale of the disaster.

Dozens of cities and villages along a 1,300-mile (2,100-kilometer) stretch of coastline were shaken by violent tremors that reached as far away as Tokyo, hundreds of miles (kilometers) from the epicenter.

"The earthquake has caused major damage in broad areas in northern Japan," Prime Minister Naoto Kan said at a news conference.

Japan issued a state of emergency at a nuclear power plant after its cooling system had a mechanical failure. Trouble was reported at two other nuclear plants as well, but there was no radiation leak at any.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano said the measure at the nuclear power plant in Fukushima was a precaution and that the facility was not in immediate danger.

Even for a country used to earthquakes, this one was of horrific proportions because of the tsunami that crashed ashore, swallowing everything in its path as it surged several miles (kilometers) inland before retreating.

Large fishing boats and other sea vessels rode high waves into the cities, slamming against overpasses or scraping under them, snapping power lines along the way. Upturned and partially submerged vehicles were seen bobbing in the water. Ships anchored in ports crashed against each other.

Tsunami warning for Hawaii, US west coast


AP Reporting

A tsunami warning has been expanded to include the entire western U.S. coast, as well as Hawaii.

The Tsunami Warning Center says the warning is in effect for California, Oregon, Washington and southern Alaska.

Warnings were issued for Hawaii and other parts of the Pacific following a tsunami early Friday after a massive earthquake struck in Japan.

[chefcraig]

Tsunami barrels toward Hawaii, US western coast

YAHOO

PAPEETE, Tahiti – A tsunami spawned by a massive earthquake in Japan raced across the Pacific Ocean early Friday, pushing tourists to the upper levels of high-rise hotels in Hawaii and threatening to swamp low-lying areas of the U.S. western coast.

Sirens woke residents in the middle of the night in Hawaii, where the governor ordered the evacuation of coastal areas and warned residents to take the threat seriously. People waited in long lines stocking up on gas, bottled water, canned food and generators, and officials told residents to stock up on water and fill their cars with gas.

The first waves to hit Hawaii could reach 6 feet high and were expected to hit about 3 a.m. local time (9 a.m. EST.)

The tsunami slammed the eastern coast of Japan, sweeping away boats, cars, homes and people as widespread fires burned out of control. It's traveling at 500 mph — as fast as a jetliner — and likely won't change speed until it hits a large area of land, said Kanoah Koyanagi, a geophysicist for the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center.

Waves are predicted to hit the western coast of the United States between 11 a.m. and 11:30 a.m. EST Friday. People near the beach and in low-lying coastal areas of Point Conception in Santa Barbara County were told to move immediately inland to higher ground.

While the tsunami is likely to go around smaller islands, the size of Hawaii's islands will amplify the waves, which will crash hardest against harbors and inlets.

"They're going to be coming in with high currents, they can pick up boulders from the sea floor ... they can pick up cars, they can pick up fuel tanks, those things become battering rams and so it just amplifies the destruction in a big tsunami," said Chip McCreery, director for the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center.

Waves almost 5 feet high hit Midway, a tiny island in the North Pacific about 1,300 miles northwest of Honolulu.

"We're preparing for the worst and we're praying for the best," said John Cummings III, spokesman for the Honolulu Department of Emergency Management.

The Honolulu International Airport remained open but seven or eight jets bound for Hawaii have turned around, including some originating from Japan, the state Department of Transportation said.

All harbors are closed and vessels were being ordered to leave the harbor.

The warnings issued by the Hawaii-based Pacific Tsunami Warning Center cover an area stretching the entire western coast of the United States and Canada from the Mexican border to Chignik Bay in Alaska.

In Alaska, a dozen small communities along the Aleutian Island chain were on alert. In Oregon, county officials in Oregon were assessing whether to sound sirens; waves in Brookings in southern Oregon could also hit 6 feet.

The tsunami was expected to hit the Northern Mariana Islands, a U.S. territory at 4 a.m. EST, but no big waves came. Waves about 2.6 feet high hit the beach in Saipan, and sirens still sounded in the empty streets.

Maria Mettao, who works at the front desk of the Hyatt Regency Saipan in the Northern Marianas, said hotel staff has been given the all-clear. Mettao said the hotel has allowed guests to leave from the higher floors where they had been evacuated.

In the Philippines, officials ordered an evacuation of coastal communities along the country's eastern seaboard in expectation of a tsunami following the 8.9-magnitude earthquake in Japan.

Disaster management officials in Albay province southeast of Manila say they ordered residents to move to designated evacuation sites that are at least 15 feet above sea level.

In Guam, authorities advised people to evacuate low areas of the U.S. territory and seek ground higher than 50 feet above sea level and 100 feet inland.

Australia was not in danger because it was protected by island nations to the north, including Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands, that would largely absorb any wave activity, said Chris Ryan, a forecaster at the National Meteorological and Oceanographic Centre, the Australian government agency that monitors the threat.

The warning was issued Thursday at 9:31 HST p.m. Sirens were sounded about 30 minutes later in Honolulu alerting people in coastal areas to evacuate. About 70 percent of Hawaii's 1.4 million population resides in Honolulu, and as many as 100,000 tourists are in the city on any given day.

Honolulu's Department of Emergency Management has created refuge areas at community centers and schools, and authorities on Kauai island have opened 11 schools to serve as shelters for those who have left tsunami inundation zones.

Streets cleared out across Hawaii with usually bustling Waikiki mostly free of any foot traffic, with police ordering every one into the hotels. At the hotels, visitors were evacuated to the third floor and higher.

"The situation we're confronting right now is unpredictable. We do not know how many waves are going to be coming," said Honolulu Mayor Peter Carlisle. "We do not know which wave, if any wave, causes the most damage and how long the series of waves can last. As a result of that, it is our responsibility to do those things which are absolutely essential to ensure that human life is saved."

A small 4.5-magnitude earthquake struck the Big Island just before 2 a.m., but there were no reports of damages and the quakes weren't likely related, a geophysicist with the United States Geological Survey said.

U.S. Coast Guard rescue crews were making preparations throughout the Hawaiian Islands to provide post-tsunami support, with cutter and aircraft crews positioning themselves to conduct response and survey missions.

Dennis Fujimoto said the mood is calm but concerned on the island of Kauai while people readying for the tsunami.

There's long lines at gas stations, and at the Wal-Mart, one of the few places that was open to midnight, people were stocking up on supplies.

"You got people walking out of there with wagonloads of water," he said.

The worst big wave to strike the U.S. was a 1946 tsunami caused by a magnitude of 8.1 earthquake near Unimak Islands, Alaska, that killed 165 people, mostly in Hawaii. In 1960, a magnitude 9.5 earthquake in southern Chile caused a tsunami that killed at least 1,716 people, including 61 people in Hilo. It also destroyed most of that city's downtown. On the U.S. mainland, a 1964 tsunami from a 9.2 magnitude earthquake in Prince William Sound, Alaska, struck Washington State, Oregon and California. It killed 128 people, including 11 in Crescent City, Calif.

[Kristy]

...and thus far a 3-foot wave disseminates the Hawaiian coastline.

[ELVIS]

Maybe your new overpriced speakers caused the quake...

[Unchainme]

Cato is alright I assume?
I saw him lurking online earlier.

[Hardrock69]

Hope so.

I have a friend who lives on the west coast of Japan, so she is ok. Lotta people are in deep trouble over there right now.

Saw some footage earlier of a giant whirpool somewhere in the ocean over there.

Man that shit is fucked up! I feel sorry for everyone in Japan who is suffering as a result of this!

[chefcraig]

...and thus far a 3-foot wave disseminates the Hawaiian coastline.

Be thankful for that...



A massive tsunami engulfs a residential area in Natori, Miyagi Prefecture in northeastern Japan.

More images: Huge Japan quake causes tsunami, fires, landslide

[Nitro Express]

Lot's of strange stuff going on. Airport runway numbers no longer line up with the compass reading because magnetic north is moving. The sun rises two days early in Greenland. Lot's of earthquake and volcanic activity (especially in the ring of fire). Piecing all of that together I would say it's probable we are in the early stages of a pole shift. Why would the sun rise two days early in Greenland unless the world physically tilted? They say it was due to more ice and snow but give me a fucking break.

[Nitro Express]

Japan is probably the best prepared nation for earthquakes but with a quake that big there is not much that can be done; especially regarding the tsunamis. Their preparation and building codes saved a lot of lives. Tsunami is a Japanese word for a reason. They have a long history of water rushing in.

[FORD]

I hope they can get the nuclear reactors under control, or things are going to get a lot worse. And a massive quake & tsunami is pretty well fucked up as it is.

[Va Beach VH Fan]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/03/11/tsunami-relief-gop-budget-cuts_n_834479.html

Tsunami Relief And Preparedness Cut In GOP Budget Proposal: National Weather Service

First Posted: 03/11/11 12:10 PM Updated: 03/11/11 12:10 PM

WASHINGTON -- Thursday night's massive earthquake in Japan and the resulting tsunami warnings that have alarmed U.S. coasts, seem likely to ignite a debate over a previously little-discussed subsection of the spending bills currently being debated in Congress.

Tucked into the House Republican continuing resolution are provisions cutting the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, including the National Weather Service, as well as humanitarian and foreign aid.

Presented as part of a larger deficit reduction package, each cut could be pitched as tough-choice, belt-tightening on behalf of the GOP. But advocates for protecting those funds pointed to the crisis in Japan as evidence that without the money, disaster preparedness and relief would suffer.

"These are very closely related," National Weather Service Employees Organization President Dan Sobien told The Huffington Post with respect to the budget cuts and the tsunami. "The National Weather Service has the responsibility of warning about tsunami's also. It is true that there is no plan to not fund the tsunami buoys. Everyone knows you just can't do that. Still if those [House] cuts go through there will be furloughs at both of the tsunami warning centers that protect the whole country and, in fact, the whole world."

The House full-year continuing resolution, which has not passed the Senate, would indeed make steep cuts to several programs and functions that would serve in a response to natural disasters (not just tsunamis) home and abroad. According to Sobien, the bill cuts $126 million from the budget of the NWS. Since, however, the cuts are being enacted over a six-month period (the length of the continuing resolution) as opposed to over the course of a full year, the effect would be roughly double.

As for NOAA, the House GOP cuts are even deeper. The House spending bill is roughly $450 million below the president's 2011 budget requests. The Senate Democratic bill would be $110 million below that request. The White House-allied Center for American Progress, argued that the House spending bill would actually cut $1.2 billion from the president's budget requests, likely by taking into account that the bill does not provide NOAA the funding increase requested for the Joint Polar Satellite System.

A request to comment from the Republican-led House Appropriations Committee was not immediately returned.

Either way, the lower funding levels would force major institutional readjustments. An internal analysis put together by the House Democratic Finance committee before the tsunami struck, argued that such cuts "could result in the closure of up to 12 forecast offices that safeguard American lives and property. Each forecast office issues forecasts and warnings to an average population of 2.5 million people."

The proposed cut to the Operation, Research, and Facilities account would also result in a 21 day furlough of NOAA's employees.

The ramifications of spending cuts would potentially extend beyond tsunami or natural disaster preparedness to the post-catastrophe operations as well. In late February, a wide coalition of aid groups wrote Speaker John Boehner, Majority Leader Eric Cantor, and Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi to warn against the major cuts that the House bill made with respect to global disaster aid (67 percent cut relative to 2010 levels), refugee assistance (45 percent) and global food relief (41 percent).

"It is shocking to imagine that in the next major global humanitarian crisis - the next Haiti, Tsunami, or Darfur - the United States might simply fail to show up," the heads of 29 international aid organizations wrote. "Addressing the drivers of the national debt is wise. Abruptly reducing US humanitarian commitments in order to save less than one quarter of one percent of total discretionary spending is not. These cuts would imperil the longstanding US commitment to provide lifesaving humanitarian assistance for those threatened by disaster and conflict."

[PETE'S BROTHER]

round two


TOKYO (Reuters) – A strong earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 6.6 struck northwestern Japan on Saturday after a massive quake hit northeastern Japan, NHK reported.

[chefcraig]

round two


TOKYO (Reuters) – A strong earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 6.6 struck northwestern Japan on Saturday after a massive quake hit northeastern Japan, NHK reported.

Another Earthquake Hits Japan

ktbs.com

A magnitude 6.6 earthquake struck the central, mountainous part of Japan hours after a massive quake hit off the country's northeastern coast.

The first earthquake -- a monster 8.9 -- caused a 23-foot tsunami that's plowed a path of destruction, killed at least 300 people and washed away cars and bridges. It was followed by more than 80 aftershocks.

The offshore earthquake has been labeled the fifth largest earthquake in recorded history.

The most recent quake -- about 105 miles north of Tokyo -- was in an entirely different location. It caused buildings in Tokyo to sway. There were no immediate reports of damage.

Friday's earthquakes have brought Tokyo to a standstill. Trains that normally run like clockwork came to a stop. Commuters were stranded, and their cell phones were mostly useless. Mobile phone lines were crammed, preventing nearly all calls and text messages. By nightfall, tens of thousands of people remained stranded in Tokyo.

Japanese authorities said they will release slightly radioactive vapor to ease pressure at nuclear reactor whose cooling system failed. The failure occurred after a power outage caused by the earthquake.

Japan's nuclear safety agency says pressure inside one of six boiling water reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi plant had risen to 1.5 times the level considered normal.

The agency said the radioactive element in the vapor that will be released would not affect the environment or human health.

President Barack Obama called the tsunami "catastrophic" and pledged to help Japan.

"We currently have an aircraft carrier in Japan and another is on its way. We also have a ship en route to the Marianas Islands to assist as needed," the president said.

The tsunami spawned by the enormous quake raced past the Hawaiian Islands and has reached as far as the Oregon coast, but caused little damage.

Japanese officials have already found 200 to 300 bodies in a northeastern coastal city of Sendai. Another 137 people have been confirmed dead and at least 627 people are injured, the Associated Press reported. The death toll is expected to rise as rescuers search damaged buildings.

There are reports of a missing train full of dozens of commuters in the earthquake region and a boat ripped from the docks of Miyagi with 80 workers on board being swept out to sea in the tsunami.

There are no reports of American fatalities in Japan, but anxious posts on Facebook reveal Americans still searching for family members in Sendai.

[Nitro Express]

Several in Chile, Haiti, New Zealand, Japan, China. There's a pattern here and I'm sure more will come. The San Andreas, New Madrid, and Wasatch faults are all due for a big quake as well. The earth is moving and shifting. Everything is going to hell. The political system, the economy, the sun is even acting up. It's like a bad movie. Maybe the earth is tired of our bullshit and is going to shake us off like a bad case of fleas.

[sadaist]

The tsunami is one of the sickest things I have seen in a long time. Just amazed at the footage. Flaming houses swiftly moving through a town on a wall of water. Surreal.

At least 1,000 dead at this time. I'm afraid that is only the tip of this very, very large iceberg. Going to be in the tens of thousands when all is said & done.




Don't huge Japanese earthquakes run the risk of awaking Godzilla? Man, talk about salt in the wounds if that dude shows up to do some extra damage.