Earthquake in Japan and Tsunami

[Lillian]

8.9 earthquake with 23 foot tsunami. I am amazed that there weren't more fatalities.

Martin, I hope the Boss' family and friends are all okay.

[kiwigeo]

8.9 earthquake with 23 foot tsunami. I am amazed that there weren't more fatalities.

Martin, I hope the Boss' family and friends are all okay.

Hi Lillian,

Thanks for the concerns about the Japanese side of my family. Both myself and my younger brother have Japanese in laws living in various parts of Japan. My brothers in laws are accounted for and Im still trying to reach my wife to check her family and friends are ok. Shes out at a music festival at the moment and doesnt have her mobile phone with her. Her Dads living in Wakkanai up on the northern tip of Hokkaido so hell be ok but she has alot of friends in other parts of Japan.

Talk about having a crap day....first day back out on the rig after no sleep last night and this news was just not needed. While talking with my brother I got the lates news on my Dad back in NZ....sounds like hes gone backwards with his general health as a result of the forced relocation due to the earthquake there. Months of hard work getting him mobile and getting him into better physical and mental health has all been undone and were back to square one....so **** frustrating.

[Nick]

Today's toll update aint looking too pretty, they reckon up to a thousand or more could be lost . I was watching the tsunami wave engulf the land on footage last night & my heart went out to the people. Makes our one almost pale in significance. Hoping all members of the boss's family are safe Martin & sorry to hear of your father's backward steps. I drove past Kate Shepard the other day & the Liquefaction is incredible, it will be ages before any residents can get "home" I would say.

[Paul B]

8.9 earthquake with 23 foot tsunami. I am amazed that there weren't more fatalities.

There are Lil, they just haven't found them yet. Same thing happened back in '04 in Indonesia. First reports the next day were saying a hundred or so dead... I was staying at my sis's when that happened and I told my brother-in-law that they were kidding themselves if they thought that that was it, what with all of the settlements around there being low laying, and every day the toll rose until they said "we'll never know how many". And Japan has such a high population density....

Now they're having problems with a couple of nuclear power stations that were damaged. This could get a lot worse.

Marty, remind me never to marry into your family mate, My first thought was for your missus' family. Hope all is well. No wonder you became a Geologist.

[Kim]

Just like to add my hope for a good outcome for all of your wife's extended family and friends Marty. Terrible times for the people of Japan, lets hope that the situation turn out to be nowhere near as bad as it currently appears.

Kim

[Lillian]

Martin, get some sleep if you can. It makes a world of difference in your outlook.

Sorry to hear about you da. It must be so disconcerting being moved around and having all that you are familiar with gone. And I'm sure that the thought of yet another earthquake is always on the back of his mind. I hope he catches he's breath, so to speak, and starts to made progress again.

[kiwigeo]

I drove past Kate Shepard the other day & the Liquefaction is incredible, it will be ages before any residents can get "home" I would say.

Hi Nick,

From what Im hearing Kate Shepard will be bulldozed.....there was alot of damage to the hospital wing from first earthquake and this time around the whole complex is cactus. The condominiums and retirement units have also copped significant damage. From what Ive seen site preparation was probably not as good as it could have been when they built the place........theyre on some of the worst soils for liquefaction.

Thanks to you guys for the kind comments re my Dad.....were not giving up just yet.

[simonm]

Looking at the violence of the Tsunami, I will be surprised if the the death toll doesn't go into the 10s of thousands - maybe closer to 100k. The pictures show such a mess that it will be a week or more before they even have a vague idea of how many are missing.
The only good news seems to be that the reactors are light water so a chernobyl explosion is not likely and the wind (from the pictures) is blowing out to sea. One report suggest that the design target for Japanese reactors is 7.5 on the Richter scale. Don't know if that is true but it given that they were two 9+ (9.1 and 9.5 I think) earthquakes in the 1960's (Alaska and Chile) it seems a bit optimistic.

[Kim]

One report suggest that the design target for Japanese reactors is 7.5 on the Richter scale. Don't know if that is true but it given that they were two 9+ (9.1 and 9.5 I think) earthquakes in the 1960's (Alaska and Chile) it seems a bit optimistic.

Perfectly understandable....the nuclear power industry has a history of optimism when presenting figures to get one of their cash generators over the line..The cool thing they have discovered is that if you pay enough people enough money to believe, they will...Nothing new though, its exactly the same strategy adopted by the missionaries and it worked a treat for them. Generation 1 believes because that is what they had agreed to do for reward. After that it is all free runn'in because generation 2 believes simply because Mum and Dad did and so on.

If the principal can work so well as to leaves whole societies bowing to an imaginary friend in the sky and changing their thousand year culture to mimic one introduced to them by people their ancestors had never met, why shouldn't it be powerful enough to leave a community believing that a great big man made building chock full of poisonous shit that kills for 50 million years is perfectly safe to have next door? I mean come on, our oldest standing structures on this earth are already around 5 thousand years old. Sure they are a little worse for wear but what makes people think our modern containment won't still be around safely housing the most lethal substance known to mankind for 2500 times longer than our species has walked the earth? Bunch of doubting Thomas's the lot of ya.

Hey Marty, don't get too disheartens about your Dad mate,. With older folks the mind can sometimes go into a kind of protection mode when things get difficult to handle. It's just easier to deal with when you can't recall fuck all and his recent ordeal could easily have triggered such an event. With any luck, once he finds a new home and settles in to some stability, he can bounce back to where he was in double quick time.

Cheers

Kim

[Nick]

Looking at the violence of the Tsunami, I will be surprised if the the death toll doesn't go into the 10s of thousands - maybe closer to 100k.

Apparently there's already half of one 'village' missing & that is up near the 10K mark. Tragic times indeed just hope they can get the reactor cooled otherwise it could be even more catastrophic.

[Lillian]

I've stopped looking at the death count. The numbers are overwhelming and I know my mind will just turn away from the fact these were people and allow them to be a statistic so that I can deal. These were people with families and I don't want to forget that.


They are reporting that this quake moved Japan 2.4 meters and shifted the Earth on its axis 10 cm. That was an incredible amount of force.

Martin, other than these three being along the Ring of Fire, is there any relationship between the two down south and Japan's?

[Clancy]

Too stunned for words.
This whole damn planet is overdue some good news.

[Nick]

Too stunned for words.
This whole damn planet is overdue some good news.

Amen to that Craig.

I've stopped looking at the death count. The numbers are overwhelming and I know my mind will just turn away from the fact these were people and allow them to be a statistic so that I can deal. These were people with families and I don't want to forget that.

I know what you mean Lillian, it's hard to get your head around the numbers from just a single event (short of a nuclear explosion) such as this. I would love to go and help out if I could, the Japanese came here & helped us in our time of need, I'd be only too happy to return the favour but lack the required skills so my hand will be going into my wallet deeply as & when required.

From what Ive seen site preparation was probably not as good as it could have been when they built the place........theyre on some of the worst soils for liquefaction.

Martin, I thought that when they were building that home, I used to drive past it everyday going to work & it only started out as a small rest home (a few units & central hall/admin block), but even then & not even knowing much about geology (and before liquefaction became a commonly used term), I thought it was a dodgy practise building on reclaimed swamp & sandy soils back then. Then it changed ownership & became Kate Sheppard & just grew exponentially out further into the swamp. I always thought "Travis county" would do the same as that was reclaimed swamp also but fortunately the developers of that must have done the job right & the houses are still standing.

[Puff]

It is a terrible thing to say in terms of transTasman relationships but I cannot fault Kim's post in any way.

[Lillian]

Damn, a volcano erupted in southern Japan today.

http://abcnews.go.com/International/vol ... d=12774482

[Dave White]

Colin Symonds phoned me last night to say that he was flying out via (NZ) to a ship to survey the fault line of the Japanese earthquake. He was telling me that these things tend to "unzip" with the pressure transfered along to a new place after an earthquake - didn't sound good. Last time (2004) after the big earthquake and tsunami he was stuck on a ship down there for six months. He's got his i-phone though He also told me that Istanbul is not a place that he would visit

[Nick]

Colin Symonds phoned me last night to say that he was flying out via (NZ) to a ship to survey the fault line of the Japanese earthquake. He was telling me that these things tend to "unzip" with the pressure transfered along to a new place after an earthquake - didn't sound good. Last time (2004) after the big earthquake and tsunami he was stuck on a ship down there for six months. He's got his i-phone though He also told me that Istanbul is not a place that he would visit

If he gets stuck in Christchurch, tell him to contact me (PM me for a phone number), be only too glad to have a chat with a great luthier & share a beer & maybe even provide a bed. Unfortunately there aren't too many 'decent' alehouses open just at the moment but Pomeroys is I believe .

[kiwigeo]

Colin Symonds phoned me last night to say that he was flying out via (NZ) to a ship to survey the fault line of the Japanese earthquake. He was telling me that these things tend to "unzip" with the pressure transfered along to a new place after an earthquake - didn't sound good. Last time (2004) after the big earthquake and tsunami he was stuck on a ship down there for six months. He's got his i-phone though He also told me that Istanbul is not a place that he would visit

These faults tend to be very long linear features and can extend for 100's of km. In terms of activity aftershocks tend to happen towards the ends of the fault line where stress hasnt been relieved as much as in the vicinity of the main shock. NE Japan still has a high chance of at least one aftershock a magnitude lower then the main shock (ie 7-8M) and a high chance of more tsunamis.

With the significant shift in position of the plate the northern Japan sits on (4m quoted in some circles) theyre going to have to resurvey extensively......

[Paul B]

8.9 earthquake with 23 foot tsunami. I am amazed that there weren't more fatalities.

There are Lil, they just haven't found them yet. Same thing happened back in '04 in Indonesia. First reports the next day were saying a hundred or so dead... I was staying at my sis's when that happened and I told my brother-in-law that they were kidding themselves if they thought that that was it, what with all of the settlements around there being low laying, and every day the toll rose until they said "we'll never know how many". And Japan has such a high population density....

Now they're having problems with a couple of nuclear power stations that were damaged. This could get a lot worse.

Marty, remind me never to marry into your family mate, My first thought was for your missus' family. Hope all is well. No wonder you became a Geologist.

Sometimes you f**king hate it when you were right all along.

Poor bastards.

[kiwigeo]

Martin, other than these three being along the Ring of Fire, is there any relationship between the two down south and Japan's?

The short answer...no. For the long answer read on:

On a global scale the earthquakes are all related to tectonic plate movement. On a local scale the mechanisms by which the earthquakes are produced under Christchurch and Japan are different.

The earthquake in Japan is the direct result of the Pacific Plate subducting under Honshu. To a considerable depth the downgoing Pacific plate is coupled to the plate (Nth American) that Honshu sits on and drags it down until a point at which it ruptures and usually also rebounds...this is what produced the earthquake and tsunami.

New Zealand sits on the bundary between the Pacific and Indian plates. In the north the Pacific Plate is subducting westwards under the Indian Plate but as you go south the two plates are sliding past each other....this is because the Pacific Plate is rotating. The fault systems under Christchurch are a local manifestation of the stress regime created by the interaction of the two plates rather than a direct result of subduction as in Japan. The faults under Christchurch are unlikely to produce a magnitude 9 earthquake.

[kiwigeo]

No wonder you became a Geologist.

LOL.....I've been bollocked by a few people because Im a Geologist. Geologists are also getting paid out left right and centre in NZ because they cant forecast when quakes are going to occur down to date and time...its just not possible.

A bloke by the name of Ken Ring (The Moon Man) reckons he can predict quakes by looking at phase and position of moon....alot of people are putting their trust in this scam merchant rather than the scientists. Understandable, but this scammer is taking advantage of peoples fear and ignorance of the workings of the earth. Hes predicted a big quake for March 20th.....Im predicting he may have made his last pediction.

[Puff]

His 'predictions' are disgusting. Could someone please bust whatever balls he has - crystal or otherwise,

[Lillian]

Thanks for the reply Martin. I didn't think there was a geological relation between the two events, but had to ask the question.

[Nick]

LOL.....I've been bollocked by a few people because Im a Geologist. Geologists are also getting paid out left right and centre in NZ because they cant forecast when quakes are going to occur down to date and time...its just not possible.

A bloke by the name of Ken Ring (The Moon Man) reckons he can predict quakes by looking at phase and position of moon....alot of people are putting their trust in this scam merchant rather than the scientists. Understandable, but this scammer is taking advantage of peoples fear and ignorance of the workings of the earth. Hes predicted a big quake for March 20th.....Im predicting he may have made his last pediction.

F**king Ken Ring! Wants a good kick up his! I have two female members (who's nerves are already well frazzled) of my family that are terrified that the 20th is getting closer & that we are all in for a huge one despite all the facts I have put before them about this snake oil merchant.
There was a good letter to the editor in this morning's press, the writer had checked back to all the large (7.9 & above) earthquakes that have occured over the last 90 years & I think only 5 of them had occured anywhere near the moons perigee (not one of them on it as this clown's (ring) putting up as basis for his 'accurate prediction').




Hope the reactors hold together & the worlds experts can avert a major disaster (despite there already being 'some' leakage), that's all the poor Japanese need right about now!

Just found this interesting clip on youtube, obviously nowhere near the mayhem of further up the coast, but the way the cracks are 'moving' seems to insinuate that this particular bit of land was 'floating'. Similar things happened in Christchurch with the liquefaction.

youtu.be/

[DarwinStrings]

Jim