The LNER Encyclopedia

If anyone hasn't seen this
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-12307698

It is the biggest recorded quake in Japan, and all local islands and shorelines are on high alert. My girlfriend is from the Philippinnes so we are on tenter hooks too.

Fingers crossed and hope goes out to anyone in the area.

Live there for 21 years and have just come back from a visit there a couple of days ago. I have spend nearly all last night using Twitter, Facebook and phone to try and contact all my friends there. So far they are all okay, but shaken. I went through this in Kobe in 1995 so I know what they are all feeling. All the scenes are bringing back nightmares and my heart goes out to all people in natural disasters.

Malcolm

It is a big earthquake and it sounds like a lot of people are still being traced. On the positive side, Japan is the most prepared country in the world for earthquakes.

Large "mega thrust" earthquakes like this are also possible under Washington State but few if any people in the Oregon-Vancouver area are prepared for such a thing...


Richard

I am just amazed at the frequency of what seems to be termed "aftershocks". I dont know how the poor souls cope with the ground shaking every 15-20 minutes, but I suppose they must get used to it.

http://www.iris.edu/seismon/last30.html

strang steel wrote:I am just amazed at the frequency of what seems to be termed "aftershocks". I dont know how the poor souls cope with the ground shaking every 15-20 minutes, but I suppose they must get used to it.

http://www.iris.edu/seismon/last30.html

You never get used to it....at least I never did. What happens is you learn to keep going by helping others and pushing it to the back of your mind.

Malcolm

We got caught up in the Turkish earth quake in 1999 and it is a frightening experience feeling the ground beneath your feet moving as though you were standing on jelly and bits of buildings crashing around you but what I remember most is the noise of it, a deafening roar from under your feet. We got out of the hotel and it was to badly damaged to return to, the staff eventually recovered our luggage in between the aftershocks, it was off to the airport and on the first available flight home after that.

That has been horrendous.......and very frightening......

Various people I know were in Indonesia for the Boxing Day one. And I have a feeling that at least a couple of others are out in Japan at the moment. Hopefully, they'll be safe.


PS, my personal experience is much more gentle......

I was in North Wales for several of the aftershocks from the 1984 event (including the largest) ...one was overnight, which sounded and felt just like a huge lorry grinding up the hill outside, it wasn't until I realised a) no headlights and b) there was a standing wave in my water glass beside the bed - oh, **** earthquake! And a couple of days later there was another, in daylight, and I saw the posts in the fence I was standing next to, start 'shaking' in turn as the waves came towards me...when they arrived it was like being on a pantoon when a wake arrives.

If it's of any reassurance; got a son in Tokyo, near the river, not far from central business area I think.
Been in mobile 'phone 'e-mail' and speech contact four times since the main 'quake so far.
Apart from being on the Metro and his train stopping when it happened, then moving off to the next station after quite a while, where it was 'all change' and leave the station, so he then had some walking to do ; he said apart from a few cracked and broken windows and bikes fallen over that he'd seen, and a few things moved about on the top of his room's table and other furniture, all was okay, including power and running water. And Friday evening saw Metros that he needed to use, running again. Rather different elsewhere though, as we've seen, particularly further north.

Rather impressed by what the (London) Evening Standard printed yesterday :
" .... Japan .... has the world's most advanced warning systems. Up to 1,000 motion sensors around the islands are able to detect the first signs of a tremor and allow alerts to be issued nationwide.
The seismographs detect the faster of an earthquake's two seismic waves - the less destructive "P" wave - and use computers to calibrate the intensity and epicentre within a few seconds.
The system then sends an automatic warning which is instantly broadcast on television, radio and through mobile phones. All TV and radio stations switch immediately to official earthquake coverage, informing the public of the risks.
The warning system is supported by strict building laws which also prevent wide-scale damage in Japan's heavily populated cities, with skyscrapers designed to sway but not crack.
The country also has a tsunami warning service, established in 1952. There are six centres connected to 300 sensors situated across Japan's islands - and 80 sea sensors - which monitor seismic activity. An alert can be issued within three minutes.
The system, which costs $20 million a year to run, is so accurate it can predict the height, speed, destination and arrival time of any tsunami destined for the mainland. It aims to give residents at least a 10-minute warning to clear the affected area, while emergency services are also notified. .... "