
8.9 earthquake hits Japan - flyt
http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/recenteqsww/Quakes/usc0001xgp.php
======
po
I'm still feeling shakes every few minutes. It's like living in a house on a
block of jello. Long rolling waves. I'm in central Tokyo and our china cabinet
was shaken pretty badly:

[http://www.flickr.com/photos/poswald/5516954100/in/photostre...](http://www.flickr.com/photos/poswald/5516954100/in/photostream/)

I know some people up in sendai that I'm a bit worried about.

~~~
atgm
I'm feeling shakes every 20 minutes or so; one of the earthquake alerts on my
phone actually preceded the shaking by about 10 seconds. My body's so used to
the shaking that it always thinks it's shaking -- I set up a bottle of water
to look at just so I don't go insane.

11:30 pm JST and I'm still feeling quakes.

~~~
Confusion
To verify your sanity:
[http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/recenteqsww/Quakes/qu...](http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/recenteqsww/Quakes/quakes_big.php)

Some of the later quakes were als closer to Tokyo compared to the big one.

~~~
erickhill
The map view helps to visualize the intense chain reaction after shocks (some
north of 6.0) that have been set off.
[http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/recenteqsww/Maps/10/1...](http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/recenteqsww/Maps/10/145_40.php)

------
CWuestefeld
This is what I like about HN. This isn't a particularly "hacker" story, but
the perspective here is unique.

On the main stream media, I'll get a couple of statistics and video, then an
empty comment about "loved ones trying to make sense of this senseless
tragedy".

On HN, I get the facts, but both broader and deeper, from the geological
nature of the quake to the effect on other locales. And I get real, unfiltered
perspective from those involved -- without the bogus posturing for the human
interest feel.

~~~
Florin_Andrei
Now imagine a neurotypical person reading this comment. What do you think
they'd say?

~~~
TimothyBurgess
You know, I'm really not sure what they'd say Florin. What do _you_ think
they'd say?

~~~
Florin_Andrei
Uh... are you asking me to... hm... exercise my... um... empathy?

~~~
bioh42_2
An _individual_ neuro typical person might show a slightly higher curiosity
about what I cynically call the "disaster/tragedy porn" of the coverage.

On _average_ however disaster porn is the _lowest_ common denominator.

Do not paint all individuals with the brush created by looking at the average.
Just because the big networks seek the maximum number of viewers does not mean
_every_ viewer particularly strongly prefers that kind of coverage.

------
melvinram
Red Cross and others will likely be jumping to the aide of those who have been
affected by this disaster.

If you have a website, please consider adding a message and link to the Red
Cross donation website or the link to the donation page of any other website.

To get it up ASAP, I've used the HelloBar (<http://www.hellobar.com>) on my
site. You can see a working version of it at <http://www.webdesigncompany.net>
but really any way that grabs attention would be a good way.

PS: I'm not associated with the HelloBar product but I've sent them an email
requesting that they allow those who want to use their product to participate
to get an invite to their beta. Hopefully they'll reply here soon.

If you don't want to setup an account or don't have an invite yet, you could
copy/paste the following code:

    
    
      <script type="text/javascript" src="//www.hellobar.com/hellobar.js"></script>
      <script type="text/javascript">
        new HelloBar(3823,9104);
      </script>
    

The text and link will never change.

~~~
krig
I tried adding this to my tumblr, but the hello bar unfortunately conflicts
with the tumblr controls at the top right (it gets pushed down). Not sure how
to resolve that. :/

~~~
dtelepathy
You can change the positing setting to cover page content. Here's an example:
<http://www.arookiemistake.com/>

------
jarin
I just talked to my parents in Hawaii, there's a tsunami warning for 3 am HST.
I reminded my dad to sandbag the doors of his restaurant in Waikiki (Vit's
Hawaiian Steakhouse) before he closes for the night.

It's just outside of the "tsunami zone" in Waikiki, so I know my dad will
probably be working until the police make him evacuate. He did that on the
last tsunami warning, and Vit's was pretty much the only restaurant open for
several blocks. There was a line out of the door, haha.

~~~
rottencupcakes
Do they shut off the warnings at some point, or do they have to listen to this
(<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IfZkdIVcfEA>) for the next 5 hours?

~~~
jarin
Haha, if I remember correctly they sound them when they issue a warning, then
they sound them again something like an hour before it will hit and then maybe
again after that. It happens enough that it's well coordinated, usually there
are police on Kalanianaole Highway making sure everyone heads up into the
valleys up until about 15 minutes before it's supposed to hit.

~~~
jarin
Ok, according to my parents the sirens are going off every hour.

------
veidr
An interesting thing I noticed was that all cell phones were completely
useless for a pretty long time following the quake. That's normal, but one
difference this time, compared with several years ago, is that most people I
know no longer have a landline phone at home. People were queuing up for like
20 minutes to use the one old green plastic coin-op pay phone accross the
street.

At first, I didn't think to use a phone, since I was sitting at my desk and
email worked normally. I could email a colleague in a different building back
and forth in neartime while the quakes were happening. About 15 minutes later
it occurred to me to try my (naz)iPhone and see if it was useful. It was not--
could not make or receive calls, and the test text message I sent did not
arrive in a timely manner (took more than 30 minutes).

Just as a data point.

~~~
zeugma
Isn't that strange ? I mean cable should be more easily broken than airwaves,
no ? Is it because the landlines in Japan are designed to resist and the cell
phone tower got power disruption ?

~~~
patio11
It's because everyone in Japan started sending SMSes to everyone they knew
practically before the shaking stopped and that DOSed the network. This
happens fairly regularly (e.g. for a few minutes after midnight on New Years,
when a large portion of Japanese people send well wishes within the same 15
second window).

~~~
eru
From my experiences in Germany, SMSes send around midnight New Year did
sometimes take several hours to arrive.

~~~
neves
In Brazil the SMS network stop working during Carnival celebrations. You can't
talk due to loud music and everybody is trying to meet their friends.

------
harisenbon
It was crazy scary, and I was all the way down in Nagoya. There doesn't seem
to be too much damage in Miyagi (where the earthquake was) but some fires
broke out apparently.

Luckily, it seemed to be a long, hard earthquake rather than a short hard
earthquake, which means that buildings are able to withstand the shaking
better. The shaking went on for about 3 minutes here, and there were some
after shocks that lasted for about a minute.

The Great Hanshin Earthquake was only a 7.2, and it was much more destructive.

~~~
wisty
It's probably also deep. Deep earthquakes do less damage. But still, 8.9,
that's almost 100 times bigger than a 7.

~~~
3pt14159
Closer to 80 times stronger than a hundred, but yeah definitely deep.

~~~
mrcharles
From Wikipedia:

 _The energy release of an earthquake, which closely correlates to its
destructive power, scales with the 3⁄2 power of the shaking amplitude. Thus, a
difference in magnitude of 1.0 is equivalent to a factor of 31.6 ( = (101.0)(3
/ 2)) in the energy released; a difference in magnitude of 2.0 is equivalent
to a factor of 1000 ( = (102.0)(3 / 2) ) in the energy released.[2]_

~~~
jules
How does energy scale with distance from epicenter?

~~~
ars
Probably goes down by r^2

However earthquakes may be "flat", in which case it's by r (i.e. r^1). It's
probably somewhere in between those.

~~~
jules
Wouldn't it go down by r^2 if the earthquake is flat, and by r^3 if it's not?

~~~
wisty
No. A circle with 2X the radius has 2X the diameter, thus the energy will be
cut in half.

Unless you also expect a linear attenuation, due to energy loss through the
bedrock.

------
aba_sababa
[http://japan.person-
finder.appspot.com/?small=yes&lang=e...](http://japan.person-
finder.appspot.com/?small=yes&lang=en)

Google's response. Seriously cool.

~~~
makmanalp
Come on folks, this should be on top of the page.

------
solipsist
And there's already a growing Wikipedia article on the earthquake:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_Sendai_earthquake>

~~~
phlux
WTF - That article states ___6,000,000_ __SIX MILLION deaths?

Can this be accurate? It reiterated what I heard on the news regarding
passenger trains missing due to the Tsunami - but 6MM???

EDIT: Looks like wiki-trolling...

From CNN:

 _The official death toll stood at 137, with 539 injured and 351 missing,
according to Kyodo, citing police, but that death toll seemed almost certain
to rise -- from 200 to 300 bodies have been found in the coastal city of
Sendai alone, Kyodo reported. It said the death toll is likely to surpass
1,000._

~~~
wisty
Death toll from disasters is always low to start. Rescue workers on the ground
are more worried about digging out the people who survived (at least for the
first 48 hours or so).

------
oldstrangers
Reddit has some useful threads going:

[http://www.reddit.com/r/worldnews/comments/g1qpy/massive_79_...](http://www.reddit.com/r/worldnews/comments/g1qpy/massive_79_earthquake_in_northeastern_japan/)

[http://www.reddit.com/r/reddit.com/comments/g1qrb/78_earthqu...](http://www.reddit.com/r/reddit.com/comments/g1qrb/78_earthquake_just_happened_in_japan/)

------
leot
This is particularly ill-timed for the rebels in Libya.

~~~
eru
Are you speaking about the attention economy, or something else?

~~~
leot
Attention economy.

~~~
InclinedPlane
On the other hand it could be good, the international community may have less
patience for gaddafi's bullshit.

------
atgm
Maebashi, Gunma here. I was on the 10th floor of city hall when it happened
and bookcases were falling all over; we were trying to hold them up and not
really getting how serious it was. That was a few hours ago and we're still
getting periodic aftershocks. No sea here, so we don't have to worry about
tsunami, luckily.

I was fine during the quake itself and now I'm having an attack of the nerves;
it still feels like the ground is moving and I can't stop eating, heh.

Malls and grocery stores are closed, so the local convenience stores are being
stripped of absolutely everything.

~~~
lee
I hope you don't try and hold up book-cases in the future (not sure how large
they are). But during an earthquake, they could easily crush you.

~~~
atgm
Not big ones -- not even over my shoulders. Just full; we were trying to keep
the contents from falling all over.

------
koski
Japan has declared a state of emergency because of the failure of the cooling
system at one nuclear plant, according to the Associated Press. Officials say
there has been no leak of radiation.

Let's hope this does not get any worse than it is right now.

~~~
koski
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton says the US Air Force in Japan has
transported coolant to the plant. Officials say the facility should be back to
normal soon.

That's good news.

~~~
ars
I was wondering about this. What kind of coolant are they sending? Don't
nuclear plants just use water?

~~~
burgerbrain
Depends on the type of plant. Some use more exotic things like molten lead or
sodium.

------
eekfuh
Zynga in japan: [http://a2.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-
ash4/199150_899666...](http://a2.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-
ash4/199150_899666149751_9031480_48400618_7787084_n.jpg)

and they are still working apparently

~~~
amitt
I'm in this picture (the blobby looking guy) and yeah we were working under
the desks while all of the aftershocks were happening. It was pretty intense
as we've been having earthquakes here the last few days and thought it was
going to just be another small one. It kept intensifying, however, until we
were forced to go under the desks. Definitely a very long 3 minutes.

------
1053r
A small plug for my startup. We created a page partnering with the red cross
where folks can donate to the relief effort.
<http://www.fundly.com/redcrossjapan> From there you can donate or get
involved via facebook.

~~~
idlewords
Dude, save the startup plugs for later

------
jarin
Text message from my parents in Hawaii just now:

"At 11:01 pm we just had a 4.6 earthquake on the big island"

There's also increased seismic activity on some of the volcanoes in the
Pacific Northwest (far left link on each row shows latest activity):

<http://www.pnsn.org/WEBICORDER/VOLC/welcome.html>

I'm not a seismologist so I have no idea if that's as gnarly as it looks.

~~~
david2777
Small world. I live in East Hawaii and I felt that. It was from the Volcano,
which after erupting for the past few days stopped last night and I guess it
started again.

------
koski
The Tsunamis caused by this that might hit Taiwan etc. can be huge (5 to 10
meters). Or then just 10 cm high. How ever it's moving now 800km an hour.

The destruction is terrible ([http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xhj2ge_violent-
seisme-d-une...](http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xhj2ge_violent-seisme-d-une-
magnitude-de-8-9-au-japon_news#hp-sc-p-1))

I cannot explain in written how sorry I feel for the people living in the
area.

~~~
bhrgunatha
The tsunami has already arrived in Taiwan - very little effect - I heard a
report of 10-20 cm swelling - much less than it could have been - probably due
to local geology. Philippine and Indonesian islands are probably more at risk
especially low lying islands.

~~~
koski
Auckland-based geologist Chris Buckley says the tsunami wave is on its way
towards New Zealand at 500 or 600 miles an hour.

I think soon it's hitting Hawaii. Let's hope it'll end as well as in Taiwan.

------
invisiblefunnel
Patrick McKenzie tweet
<https://twitter.com/#!/patio11/status/46086466836762624>

~~~
patio11
So since most of y'all understand American geography better than Japanese
geography:

My friends in Osaka (San Fran) felt it.

I live in Ogaki (Kansas). There was a mild panic in the mall, and our trains
stopped for a few minutes.

Folks in Tokyo are largely shaken but not terribly affected (Boston/DC ish).

Miyagi/etc (Maine-ish) got a wee bit whacked by a tsunami. They had a few
minutes of warning. Reports will come in for a few hours, but we're _really_
good at dealing with this.

~~~
koenigdavidmj
Osaka is kind of cool but gets a bit...weird...at times, there isn't much to
speak of in Ogaki, and Miyagi is a fishing town?

~~~
angus77
Miyagi is a prefecture. Like a state or province.

------
redial
Last year I experienced the chilean earthquake. It was 8.8. There were
tsunamis in various cities and a lot of friends lost their houses. The days
after it the earth wouldn't stop shaking. A new major aftershock every 5
minutes, and a new tsunami alert every couple of hours. For about 3 months. We
still feel the occasional 6.5 aftershock every couple of weeks, more than a
year later.

It's really sad to wake up and find that it has happened again.

------
miles
Live streams from Japanese TV stations:

<http://www.ustream.tv/channel/garage-t-west>

<http://www.ustream.tv/channel/fc2mh3>

<http://www.ustream.tv/channel/tbstv>

<http://www.ustream.tv/channel/foxtokimekitonight>

------
jarquesp
Some amazing images on Twitpic:

<http://t.co/szbTX4V>

<http://t.co/nK0p50d>

<http://t.co/5zfUh6b>

Some tags to follow:

<http://twitpic.com/tag/tsunami>

<http://twitpic.com/tag/earthquake>

<http://twitpic.com/tag/japan>

------
kia
Here is a video of tsunami caused by this earthquake

<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pcaFBlH8tjM>

------
harisenbon
Also I found this interesting:

> A massive 8.8 magnitude quake hit the northeast coast of Japan on Friday,
> shaking buildings in the capital Tokyo >

Why would you talk about the earthquake in Tokyo, when it happened in Miyagi?
Tokyo only got hit with a 3 or 4. [EDIT: updated to 5 JMS. Tokyo got hit
pretty hard too]

The actual earthquake was around 240 miles away. That's the same distance from
New York to Boston.

~~~
oldstrangers
10 to 12 percent of Japan's entire population lives within Tokyo. 25% of
Japan's entire population is within 30 miles of Tokyo. This is why.

~~~
patio11
And, conservatively, 98% of foreign news agency reporters. See also: a plane
landing on the Hudson gets more coverage than half of Iowa being under water.

------
jarquesp
Live stream: <http://wwitv.com/tv_channels/6810.htm>

Or direct 256k: mms://nhk-world.gekimedia.net/nhkw-highm

They have revised the earthquake to 8.4 as of 11:08PM PST.

~~~
flyt
other live stream: <http://english.aljazeera.net/watch_now/>

watching the 3-meter tsunami roll over land is surreal

~~~
jarin
For some reason I'm getting the audio but no video. Anyone else having that
problem?

~~~
initself
Yes.

~~~
icco
Same. Was able to get video from [http://www.livestation.com/channels/3-al-
jazeera-english-eng...](http://www.livestation.com/channels/3-al-jazeera-
english-english)

------
ck2
Diamondhead Reef in Hawaii just completely emptied, it's barren of water,
nothing in sight.

------
malte
I don't know if it's of use for anyone here, but Google has set up a Crisis
Response page:

<http://www.google.com/crisisresponse/japanquake2011.html>

------
bradly
Interesting to view of all 5+ quakes the past 3 days
<http://cl.ly/3G0f0t0d1C2Z381s3O31> . Loads of activity in the area. Is that
kind of activity common, or could that have been an indicator that there was a
chance of a major quake?

~~~
yena
It's not normal at all. Something was building up

~~~
ars
From
[http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/eqinthenews/2011/usc0...](http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/eqinthenews/2011/usc0001xgp/#summary)

"The March 11 earthquake was preceded by a series of large foreshocks over the
previous two days, beginning on March 9th with an M 7.2 event approximately 40
km from the March 11 earthquake, and continuing with a further 3 earthquakes
greater than M 6 on the same day."

------
ck2
I am watching live and they just said all cooling hardware and backups for one
of their atomic plants has FAILED and they are advising residents to evacuate.
Ugh.

~~~
ck2
2nd update: Despite the emergency coolant, pressure in the nuclear plant is
going to be released soon which will result in a radiation leak. 3000+ people
who live within 3 km are being evacuated.

------
MikeCapone
The Atlantic has good photos:

[http://www.theatlantic.com/infocus/2011/03/earthquake-in-
jap...](http://www.theatlantic.com/infocus/2011/03/earthquake-in-
japan/100022/)

Al Jazeera has good video:

[http://english.aljazeera.net/news/asia-
pacific/2011/03/20113...](http://english.aljazeera.net/news/asia-
pacific/2011/03/2011311607470826.html)

------
apsurd
Is there any system currently able to mass-call all cellphones from any/all
carriers within a given geo-location radius? Or any type of push notification
service for natural disasters.

Seems like this happened during the day but watching the news made me think
about disasters that happen at night. How are people notified to get the hell
out of there??

~~~
patio11
_How are people notified to get the hell out of there??_

Are you familiar with the term "air raid siren"? The coast is wall-to-wall
peppered with squack boxes. About a minute prior to the earthquake there would
have been a "Earthquake is imminent -- brace yourself." broadcast and within a
minute there would have been a "A tsunami warning is in effect for (here). Go
to shelter immediately. Repeat..."

There are a couple levels of alerts they can pull, from "Be careful" to "MOVE
NOW." Miyagi just got "MOVE NOW."

~~~
apsurd
Thanks Patrick, that's refreshing to hear.

~~~
patio11
Problems Japan does not have #1: insufficient spending on public works
projects In Case Shit Happens, because shit happens so often that when people
in several dozen countries say shit they're speaking Japanese.

Can I tell you my favorite outsourcing story? Apologies for those who've heard
it (and yes, this actually happened):

India: We can't log into the test server.

Patrick: Then you didn't set it up right.

India: No, we did, but we get an error message.

Patrick: What error message?

India: We can't read it.

Patrick: _sigh_ Please take a screenshot then.

India: Here you go.

Patrick: Oh, that is just a weather report which correctly reflects the state
of the test database. The system is operating normally. Please proceed with
your testing of the function you were assigned.

India: Are you sure it isn't an error? It is written in red. And why would you
put a weather report on the login screen anyway?

Patrick: Q1) That is because if you ignore it _you'll die_. Q2) See Q1.

~~~
patio11
Holy cow, I've been on Hacker News far too long:

<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=422043>

~~~
epochwolf
A bit off topic but how did you dig that up? Given how active you, you would
have clicked next on your comments several hundred times.

~~~
patio11
SearchYC + a few words I remembered of it. (I have an anomalously good memory
for things I've written, which is one reason I write so much. It's like
Delicious except Yahoo can't lose my bookmarks.)

------
MikeCapone
Video of the Tsunami:

<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k4w27IczOTk>

------
dkarl
Who is responding to this catastrophe? Is it the defense forces, state police,
or is it just international agencies? I imagine a comprehensive aerial survey
happening _immediately_, helicopters showing up with emergency supplies and
defense troops or police within hours, and so on, but the government has
produced ridiculously inaccurate casualty numbers and has blamed lack of
contact with the affected area for their ignorance. It makes me think nobody
is actually there. Can somebody fill us in on what is being done to help the
people who are there?

------
mceachen
If you're in Hawaii or California, we're in a Tsunami Warning (which is the
run-for-the-hills, highest grade warning):
[http://wcatwc.arh.noaa.gov/2011/03/11/lhvpd9/04/messagelhvpd...](http://wcatwc.arh.noaa.gov/2011/03/11/lhvpd9/04/messagelhvpd9-04.htm)

If you're on a coastline, here are the tsunami height predictions:
<http://wcatwc.arh.noaa.gov/models/models.html>

~~~
mceachen
Looks like the NOAA website is having issues, but the email service isn't.
Here's the latest report via email:

Web message at
[http://wcatwc.arh.noaa.gov/2011/03/11/lhvpd9/06/messagelhvpd...](http://wcatwc.arh.noaa.gov/2011/03/11/lhvpd9/06/messagelhvpd9-06.htm)

WEAK51 PAAQ 111037 TSUAK1

BULLETIN PUBLIC TSUNAMI MESSAGE NUMBER 6 NWS WEST COAST/ALASKA TSUNAMI WARNING
CENTER PALMER AK 237 AM PST FRI MAR 11 2011

THIS MESSAGE KEEPS THE WARNING AND ADVISORY REGIONS FIXED AND ADDS NEW TSUNAMI
OBSERVATIONS. A LINK IS PROVIDED FOR TSUNAMI AMPLITUDE FORECASTS.

...THE TSUNAMI WARNING CONTINUES IN EFFECT FOR THE COASTAL AREAS OF CALIFORNIA
AND OREGON FROM POINT CONCEPCION CALIFORNIA TO THE OREGON-WASHINGTON BORDER...

...THE TSUNAMI WARNING CONTINUES IN EFFECT FOR THE COASTAL AREAS OF ALASKA
FROM AMCHITKA PASS ALASKA/125 MILES W OF ADAK/ TO ATTU ALASKA...

...THE TSUNAMI ADVISORY CONTINUES IN EFFECT FOR THE COASTAL AREAS OF
CALIFORNIA FROM THE CALIFORNIA-MEXICO BORDER TO POINT CONCEPCION CALIFORNIA...

...THE TSUNAMI ADVISORY CONTINUES IN EFFECT FOR THE COASTAL AREAS OF
WASHINGTON - BRITISH COLUMBIA AND ALASKA FROM THE OREGON-WASHINGTON BORDER TO
AMCHITKA PASS ALASKA/125 MILES W OF ADAK/...

A TSUNAMI WARNING MEANS... ALL COASTAL RESIDENTS IN THE WARNING AREA WHO ARE
NEAR THE BEACH OR IN LOW-LYING REGIONS SHOULD MOVE IMMEDIATELY INLAND TO
HIGHER GROUND AND AWAY FROM ALL HARBORS AND INLETS INCLUDING THOSE SHELTERED
DIRECTLY FROM THE SEA. THOSE FEELING THE EARTH SHAKE... SEEING UNUSUAL WAVE
ACTION... OR THE WATER LEVEL RISING OR RECEDING MAY HAVE ONLY A FEW MINUTES
BEFORE THE TSUNAMI ARRIVAL AND SHOULD MOVE IMMEDIATELY. HOMES AND SMALL
BUILDINGS ARE NOT DESIGNED TO WITHSTAND TSUNAMI IMPACTS. DO NOT STAY IN THESE
STRUCTURES.

ALL RESIDENTS WITHIN THE WARNED AREA SHOULD BE ALERT FOR INSTRUCTIONS
BROADCAST FROM THEIR LOCAL CIVIL AUTHORITIES. A TSUNAMI HAS BEEN RECORDED.

A TSUNAMI ADVISORY MEANS THAT A TSUNAMI CAPABLE OF PRODUCING STRONG CURRENTS
OR WAVES DANGEROUS TO PERSONS IN OR VERY NEAR THE WATER IS EXPECTED.
SIGNIFICANT WIDESPREAD INUNDATION IS NOT EXPECTED FOR AREAS UNDER AN ADVISORY.
CURRENTS MAY BE HAZARDOUS TO SWIMMERS... BOATS... AND COASTAL STRUCTURES AND
MAY CONTINUE FOR SEVERAL HOURS AFTER THE INITIAL WAVE ARRIVAL.

AT 946 PM PACIFIC STANDARD TIME ON MARCH 10 AN EARTHQUAKE WITH PRELIMINARY
MAGNITUDE 8.9 OCCURRED NEAR THE EAST COAST OF HONSHU JAPAN. THIS EARTHQUAKE
HAS GENERATED A TSUNAMI WHICH COULD CAUSE DAMAGE TO REGIONS IN A WARNING OR
ADVISORY. ESTIMATED TSUNAMI ARRIVAL TIMES AND MAPS ALONG WITH SAFETY RULES AND
OTHER INFORMATION CAN BE FOUND ON THE WEB SITE WCATWC.ARH.NOAA.GOV.

MEASUREMENTS OR REPORTS OF TSUNAMI ACTIVITY

    
    
      LOCATION                   LAT    LON     TIME        AMPL
      ------------------------  -----  ------  -------     -----------
      TOSASHIMIZU  JAPAN        32.8N  132.9E  0747UTC   00.9FT/00.27M
      TOKAI  JAPAN              33.8N  137.6E  0645UTC   00.8FT/00.25M
      OFUNATO  JAPAN            39.0N  141.8E  0605UTC   10.8FT/03.29M
      HANASAKI  JAPAN           43.3N  145.6E  0643UTC   09.3FT/02.82M
      BOSO  JAPAN               34.8N  140.8E  0609UTC   02.6FT/00.78M
      MINAMITORISHIMA  JAPAN    24.3N  154.0E  0747UTC   01.5FT/00.45M
      NAHA  JAPAN               26.2N  127.7E  0902UTC   00.7FT/00.20M
      SAIPAN  USA               15.2N  145.7E  0901UTC   02.6FT/00.79M
      WAKE IS.  USA             19.3N  166.6E  0918UTC   01.6FT/00.50M
      SHEMYA, ALASKA            52.7N  174.1E  1028UTC   01.3FT/00.43M
    

TIME - TIME OF MEASUREMENT AMPL - TSUNAMI AMPLITUDES ARE MEASURED RELATIVE TO
NORMAL SEA LEVEL. IT IS ...NOT... CREST-TO-TROUGH WAVE HEIGHT. VALUES ARE
GIVEN IN BOTH METERS(M) AND FEET(FT).

TSUNAMI AMPLITUDES ARE EXPECTED TO PEAK TWO TO THREE HOURS AFTER INITIAL
ARRIVAL ALONG THE NORTH AMERICAN COAST.

FORECAST TSUNAMI AMPLITUDES ARE AVAILABLE ON THE WCATWC WEB SITE
WCATWC.ARH.NOAA.GOV.

TSUNAMIS CAN BE DANGEROUS WAVES THAT ARE NOT SURVIVABLE. WAVE HEIGHTS ARE
AMPLIFIED BY IRREGULAR SHORELINE AND ARE DIFFICULT TO FORECAST. TSUNAMIS OFTEN
APPEAR AS A STRONG SURGE AND MAY BE PRECEDED BY A RECEDING WATER LEVEL.
MARINERS IN WATER DEEPER THAN 600 FEET SHOULD NOT BE AFFECTED BY A TSUNAMI.
WAVE HEIGHTS WILL INCREASE RAPIDLY AS WATER SHALLOWS. TSUNAMIS ARE A SERIES OF
OCEAN WAVES WHICH CAN BE DANGEROUS FOR SEVERAL HOURS AFTER THE INITIAL WAVE
ARRIVAL. DO NOT RETURN TO EVACUATED AREAS UNTIL AN ALL CLEAR IS GIVEN BY LOCAL
CIVIL AUTHORITIES.

PACIFIC COASTAL REGIONS OUTSIDE CALIFORNIA/ OREGON/ WASHINGTON/ BRITISH
COLUMBIA AND ALASKA SHOULD REFER TO THE PACIFIC TSUNAMI WARNING CENTER
MESSAGES FOR INFORMATION ON THIS EVENT AT WWW.WEATHER.GOV/PTWC.

THIS MESSAGE WILL BE UPDATED IN 60 MINUTES OR SOONER IF THE SITUATION
WARRANTS. THE TSUNAMI MESSAGE WILL REMAIN IN EFFECT UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE. FOR
FURTHER INFORMATION STAY TUNED TO NOAA WEATHER RADIO... YOUR LOCAL TV OR RADIO
STATIONS... OR SEE THE WEB SITE WCATWC.ARH.NOAA.GOV.

$$

------
junyaogura
Japanese mobile network operators provides disaster message boards in English.

Docomo(NTT) <http://dengon.docomo.ne.jp/Etop.cgi> SoftBank
<http://dengon.softbank.ne.jp/pc-e1.jsp> au(KDDI)
<http://dengon.ezweb.ne.jp/E/service.do>

------
serialx
Chiba Steel Mill explosion:

<http://twitpic.com/48edb1>

It's getting serious.

------
T-R
Tsunami warning for California:
[http://forecast.weather.gov/wwamap/wwatxtget.php?cwa=usa&...](http://forecast.weather.gov/wwamap/wwatxtget.php?cwa=usa&wwa=Tsunami%20Warning)

------
LiveTheDream
CNN has a video of the tsunami:
[http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/world/2011/03/11/vo.japan.t...](http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/world/2011/03/11/vo.japan.tidal.wave.NHK?hpt=C2)

------
cloudwalking
Here is a stream of images from Japan:
[http://search.twitter.com/search?q=twitpic+near%3Ajapan+with...](http://search.twitter.com/search?q=twitpic+near%3Ajapan+within%3A500mi)

~~~
crowsfan85
From above stream, a shot of people waiting to be rescued:
<http://twitpic.com/48e4r4>

------
old-gregg
I never saw a photo of tsunami like this one:
<http://drugoi.livejournal.com/3507657.html#cutid1>

------
Klonoar
Was pretty crazy. myGengo office had a light break, but otherwise we weren't
too badly affected.

Hope goes out to those more affected, looks insane from what I'm seeing.

------
hoag
What's staggering to me is that the 1989 earthquake in SF was only a 6.8 --
and that made our home in Marin feel like we were floating on a swimming pool.
I can't even begin to imagine what an 8.9 is like. Tragic, but apparently
expected: Japan's strict building codes will go a long way towards minimizing
human loss. If only there were a way to protect against the biblical
devastation of tsumanis.

------
marcusEting
If you want to see a visual of where the epicenter was:

[http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&...](http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=38.322%C2%B0N,+142.369%C2%B0E&aq=&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=42.987658,63.896484&ie=UTF8&ll=38.32442,142.382813&spn=10.681593,15.974121&z=6)

------
NZ_Matt
My thoughts are with those in Sendai and the other affected areas, the
helicopter shot on tv is terrifying. The tsunami appears to have been more
destuctive than the actual earthquake. The earthquake was a long way offshore
(150km) so I imagine the shaking intensity was relatively low on the mainland
and the buildings and other infrastructure will be alright.

------
sovande
All quake servers are down in Japan; <http://www.quakelive.com/>

------
cdavid
Hope everyone in Japan is doing ok - I guess I am lucky that I am out of the
country precisely this day, but now starting to get worry about people I know.
It is a bit scary to think that an earthquake felt in east of Japan (tokyo,
sendai), and also in Osaka where I live, almost 500 km west from there.

------
InfinityX0
I hope Ray Grieselhuber of Ginzametrics (YC) is OK - along with everyone else.
I am pretty sure he is based around Tokyo.
<http://ginzametrics.com/ginzametrics-is-hiring-in-tokyo.html>

~~~
mceachen
I emailed him as soon as I got the NOAA tsunami notification email -- he's
fine -- he's in California.

~~~
rgrieselhuber
Thanks very much, InfinityX0. We are in California and are hiring for our
Tokyo office. So far, everybody I know is in good health and nobody was hurt.

------
samh
Airport 2 km inland is flooded, amazing helicopter shots of the water sliding
across the land.

~~~
vijaydev
This is the Tokyo International Airport?

~~~
po
I think he is referring to the sendai airport.

------
golgo13
As always, check out the national Bouy Center from our friend at NOAA:
<http://www.ndbc.noaa.gov/> This is data geek heaven.

------
newtonapple
Live Japanese feed: <http://www.ustream.tv/channel/foxtokimekitonight>

------
geuis
People outside of Tokyo Disneyland <http://twitpic.com/48dy7s>

~~~
angus77
I was scheduled to go there tomorrow with my little girl.

So now you know the _full_ extent of the disaster.

------
zopticity
<https://www.wepay.com/donate/sendai>

------
zrgiu
OMG! This feels like 2012 (the movie). Seeing that tsunami is breathtaking. I
sincerely hope lives aren't lost.

~~~
pixdamix
Except the wave was 8,85 kilometers high the movie...

------
mrleinad
@BBCBreaking: "Japanese authorities to release radioactive vapour to ease
pressure at Fukushima nuclear reactor, from AP"

And this is how Gojira was created..

------
suyash
Is this post appropriate for HN?

~~~
Sandman
No, it is not. From the HN guidelines: _Off-Topic: Most stories about
politics, or crime, or sports, unless they're evidence of some interesting new
phenomenon. Videos of pratfalls or disasters, or cute animal pictures. If
they'd cover it on TV news, it's probably off-topic._

And unlike cosmok, I do mind it, because this type of news is slowly turning
HN into something it shouldn't be. There's a reason for this particular
guideline, and I think we should honor that.

EDIT: I don't mind the downvoting, but please, if you do that, at least post a
comment on why you think my comment deserved to be downvoted.

~~~
mechanical_fish
They may be downvoting you because they are emotional. Or they may be
downvoting because you are wrong. ;)

This story violates neither the letter nor the spirit of the rule against
"video" of a disaster; aka cheap sensationalism. Rather, much of the thread is
the opposite of sensationalism: e.g. patio11 on the average state of Japanese
disaster preparedness.

This story has all sorts of HN community relevance, ranging from _how are
community members experiencing this on the ground_ to _how do otherwise
abstract geology papers manifest in real life_ to _hey, wait, my startup is
sitting in a prime earthquake zone; how should we prepare?_

And, you know, this is a magnitude 8.9 earthquake. They don't happen every
year. We can afford a handful of threads on each one. It's nice to try to have
an _interesting_ news site, but if this isn't news one has to question the
entire _concept_ of news. Which is fair: News is not for everyone, and perhaps
news is not for you. It's just not to your taste. Have you tried an exclusive
diet of decade-old paper books?

