View Full Version : earthquake and tsunami japan
annemarie482
11-Mar-11, 11:26
http://uk.news.yahoo.com/22/20110311/tts-uk-japan-quake-ca02f96.html
awful thing to happen anywhere to anyone.
my thoughts go out to the folks out there and family and loved ones.
now for my question......
i'm most likely showing my ignorance here.....
but are these natural distasters happening more often, or are they just getting more media coverage?
lindsaymcc
11-Mar-11, 11:29
I asked the same question to my husband earlier today.
My thoughts go out to those involved. My friend in NZ is quite distressed over these events as it is bringing home the horror of their quake a few weeks ago.
annemarie482
11-Mar-11, 11:32
thanks lindsaymcc was worried i was just thinking too much lol
it does seem to be happening alot more often. or maybe i'm just older and taking more notice. im not sure which it is!
SunnyChick
11-Mar-11, 11:41
Think it's a combination of both AnneMarie. We are sheltered from a lot of it growing up, then you become an adult and you see it all the time. Also, there has been a fair spate of natural disasters recently.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-12709598
Watching live coverage this morning, it just makes you want to weep. :cry:
annemarie482
11-Mar-11, 11:46
Watching live coverage this morning, it just makes you want to weep. :cry:
it's absolutely terrifying!
i'm just so glad we get nothing like it here.
SunnyChick
11-Mar-11, 11:54
i'm just so glad we get nothing like it here.
knocking on wood! ;)
http://uk.news.yahoo.com/22/20110311/tts-uk-japan-quake-ca02f96.html
but are these natural distasters happening more often, or are they just getting more media coverage?
I don't think they are. We now live in an age where we can get live tv feed from the other side of the world with in minutes of an event like this happening. Before it would have taken time to get media in to an area and then they were not a high priority anyway.
www.bgs.ac.org is a very interesting place to visit might answer some of your questions annemarie482
Quite frightening to watch the pictures on the news.
Nature is a powerful thing.
annemarie482
11-Mar-11, 13:24
sorry veekay, the link isn't working? :confused
found this one,
http://www.tsunami-alarm-system.com/en/phenomenon-tsunami/phenomenon-tsunami-occurrences.html#ce_490
Dog-eared
11-Mar-11, 14:38
At least there is now an early warning system in place.
There is an alignment of the planets just now that is exerting a higher than normal gravitational pull on the earth. That is why we are having very low and high tides.
This higher than normal force obviously has an effect on the Earth's crust.
There has been a Tsunami in Caithness and the North East coastline, thousands of years ago. There is evidence all around the coast.
The "Grey Bools " at the end of the Trinkie road were flung up there from the seabed.
The Tsunami was caused by a massive undersea landslide off the Norwegian coast. A survey done a few years ago showed that the mountain of loose rock could slide again, although the risk is low.
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4156/is_20090517/ai_n31864494/?tag=content;col1
There is an alignment of the planets just now that is exerting a higher than normal gravitational pull on the earth. That is why we are having very low and high tides.
This higher than normal force obviously has an effect on the Earth's crust.
Are you suggesting that the earthquake was caused by the alignment of the planets?
orkneycadian
11-Mar-11, 14:48
As prophesised on this very forum! :eek:
http://forum.caithness.org/showthread.php?137988-Big-Moon!&p=829078#post829078
As prophesised on this very forum! :eek:
Call me a cynic, but with 500000 detectable earthquakes in the world every year I think betting there will be one "soon" is a a pretty safe bet.
But I would be interested to see if there's any evidence for a connection between planetery alignments and earthquake frequency.
The Pepsi Challenge
11-Mar-11, 14:55
Members of my family live in Hawaii. Been a nightmare trying to get in touch with them. Fingers crossed the island doesn't get hit too hard :(
annemarie482
11-Mar-11, 14:56
Members of my family live in Hawaii. Been a nightmare trying to get in touch with them. Fingers crossed the island doesn't get hit too hard :(
hope you hear from them soon, must be very worrying for you all. xx
I hope they are safe and you get word soon.
There is an alignment of the planets just now that is exerting a higher than normal gravitational pull on the earth. That is why we are having very low and high tides.
This higher than normal force obviously has an effect on the Earth's crust.
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4156/is_20090517/ai_n31864494/?tag=content;col1
According to NASA there is not. http://www.nasa.gov/topics/earth/features/2012.html.
There is an alignment of the planets just now that is exerting a higher than normal gravitational pull on the earth. That is why we are having very low and high tides.
This higher than normal force obviously has an effect on the Earth's crust.
The planets? No: the moon (which influences the tides) is the closest it has been in decades. Even so the moon is not provoking tectonic shifts.
Dog-eared
11-Mar-11, 15:22
Well, there are bigger than usual spring tides all around the world so mebbe it's down to the moon and it's distance from us just now.
If it's not provoking tectonic shifts surely it must still have some influence on unstable areas in the earths crust.
Dog-eared
11-Mar-11, 15:39
According to NASA there is not. http://www.nasa.gov/topics/earth/features/2012.html.
I read the article linked below and it looks like I had poor information originally.
http://earthsky.org/water/whats-true-and-false-about-the-march-19-supermoon
orkneycadian
11-Mar-11, 16:02
It'll be all that extra water, or sudden lack of it, pushing down on the seabed thats done it! ;)
Sorry annemarie it should read www.bgs.ac.uk not org
oldmarine
11-Mar-11, 18:11
I read that this is the worse earthquake in Japan for more than 140 years. The sunami (sp?) that will follow will affect a much larger area. During my life time I have never seen so many disasters as I have seen in the past few years. Is this the signs of the times as forecast in the Book of Revelations?
robglysen
11-Mar-11, 20:47
I read that this is the worse earthquake in Japan for more than 140 years. The sunami (sp?) that will follow will affect a much larger area. During my life time I have never seen so many disasters as I have seen in the past few years. Is this the signs of the times as forecast in the Book of Revelations?
Hmmm, if it hit an area with no polulation whatsoever, it would barely even be news. Maybe theres no more natural upheaval than normal (revelations/2012/end of the world, call it what you will) . It's only because people are there that it becomes a disaster.
My heart really does go out to them though. I fear the death toll could really rise : (
Been watching some of the footage and looking at the pics, amazing (scary amazing) images.
now for my question......
i'm most likely showing my ignorance here.....
but are these natural distasters happening more often, or are they just getting more media coverage?
More (read better) media coverage: yes.
More often: yes and no.
The media today is vast, almost instant and very visual. And ploughed into your home and life by a variety of means. 20 years ago it would have been next to impossible to see the kind, and range of images we see today any where near live or even within a matter of hours. Today we can watch these horrors unfold on our mobile, then it would have been a bulletin at 6pm or 9 with a few grainy images.
As for more often it's a case of the tectonic plates shifting, in this case the Pacific plate wiki picci here. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Plates_tect2_en.svg)
This one bounds New Zealand and covers Japan, also the western seaboard of the US (an area known for frequent quakes). Once there is a bit of shifting going on with these plates it can last a few days or months, sometimes just a few seconds then nothing for decades. But it is not uncommon for there to be a series of linked earthquakes and a series of aftershocks. So not actually more often rather than a surge for a while.
(see, I did go to skule that day)
The key thing is, no matter what or who you believe in. Or what technology we have. When mother nature throws a wobbly there is no getting away with it.
I read that this is the worse earthquake in Japan for more than 140 years. The sunami (sp?) that will follow will affect a much larger area. During my life time I have never seen so many disasters as I have seen in the past few years. Is this the signs of the times as forecast in the Book of Revelations?
I wonder if that fool John MacLeod will do his usual:
10 Feb 2005
A MINISTER with the Free Presbyterian Church provoked criticism yesterday after saying the Asia tsunami disaster, in which more than 200,000 people died, was a "divine visitation" comparable to the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah in the Bible.
The Rev John MacLeod made his comments in the February issue of his church's magazine.Mr MacLeod says in the magazine: "Some of the places most affected by the tsunami attracted pleasure-seekers from all over the world.
"It has to be noted that the wave arrived on the Lord's day, the day God set apart to be observed the world over as a holy resting from all employments and recreations that are lawful on other days."
Mr MacLeod, 74, who moved to the London area last summer after 35 years in Stornoway, added: "Do not worldliness, materialism, hedonism, uncleanness, and pleasure-seeking characterise our own generation to a great extent and does not this solemn visitation in providence reminds us that He remains the same God still? "God is no idle spectator of what is happening here in time and treats men with the sharpness and severity in order that they may know their vices."
Dog-eared
11-Mar-11, 23:19
I wonder if that fool John MacLeod will do his usual:
10 Feb 2005
A MINISTER with the Free Presbyterian Church provoked criticism yesterday after saying the Asia tsunami disaster, in which more than 200,000 people died, was a "divine visitation" comparable to the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah in the Bible.
The Rev John MacLeod made his comments in the February issue of his church's magazine.Mr MacLeod says in the magazine: "Some of the places most affected by the tsunami attracted pleasure-seekers from all over the world.
"It has to be noted that the wave arrived on the Lord's day, the day God set apart to be observed the world over as a holy resting from all employments and recreations that are lawful on other days."
Mr MacLeod, 74, who moved to the London area last summer after 35 years in Stornoway, added: "Do not worldliness, materialism, hedonism, uncleanness, and pleasure-seeking characterise our own generation to a great extent and does not this solemn visitation in providence reminds us that He remains the same God still? "God is no idle spectator of what is happening here in time and treats men with the sharpness and severity in order that they may know their vices."
Lock up the kiddie's swings on Sundays and disasters won't happen !!
I'm watching channel 516 NHK (The Japanese channel) showing live footage as they fly over the areas, it has just flown over one huge area that indicates the water is not flowing back out to sea, as the land has sunk..
It's terrible, but mesmerising - so very very sad..
toffee_pie
12-Mar-11, 02:31
it is a disaster, looking at events unfolding, as to the question asked...
I think these events happen quite frequently (natural disasters), of course any such events in places like new zealand or japan would get widespread coverage, but in the last few years of the top of my head we have had similar devestation in china, mayamar and of course the indian/thai tsumani.
japan being such a powerhouse, it is pretty unprecendented but it was always on the cards that they would get a earthquake like this. Most of the Japanese have experienced severe earthquakes and aftershocks but I suppose seeing at first hand the devestation is quite overwhelming, they had a bad ass quake in kobe in recent times also.
The damage to the global economy is going to suffer, I can speak some japanese as i worked for a company in japan and they are really nice folk, it is not good seing all this on tv...
there are probably hundreds of tsumanis occuring on the pacific rim but they are relatively small. its only the huge ones that cause wide destruction (ie scale 8>9).
we should all be pretty grateful for our own lives and as hard as life is sometimes we will never thankfully experience events like this
Well, there are bigger than usual spring tides all around the world so mebbe it's down to the moon and it's distance from us just now.
If it's not provoking tectonic shifts surely it must still have some influence on unstable areas in the earths crust.
I have no idea.
Gravity is definately related to proximity, that's the reason the moon has a bigger influence on the tides than bigger objects further away.
Does the current situation have an effect on movements of the crust? It's a bit like the "does my fart in Thurso change the course of a Hurricane in the Bahamas" scenario. It must, by the laws of physics, have SOME affect, but how much?
I wonder if that fool John MacLeod will do his usual
Therein lies my argument against the "privileges" we grant the religious.
Why does John Macleod's nonsense make the news but the ramblings of a the drunk idiot in the Comm doesn't? Because he's been granted a level of respect based purely on his position in a religion.
orkneycadian
12-Mar-11, 11:52
Uh oh, another thread veering towards God and religion..... I am sure there are plenty folk in the world today asking "If God exists, why does he send / not prevent all these earthquakes / tsumanis / volcanoes etc"
Uh oh, another thread veering towards God and religion..... I am sure there are plenty folk in the world today asking "If God exists, why does he send / not prevent all these earthquakes / tsumanis / volcanoes etc"
Don't you start! ;)
orkneycadian
12-Mar-11, 14:37
Tis OK, my belief is that it was caused by a sudden shifting of some tectonic plates due to years of building pressure. Nothing more!
Tis OK, my belief is that it was caused by a sudden shifting of some tectonic plates due to years of building pressure. Nothing more!
But I doubt your belief make the newspapers.
Unlike the good Rev's.
oldmarine
13-Mar-11, 05:14
In reading the latest news it appears that this disaster was not as wide-spread in the Pacific as originally thought. I had been looking at many islands where I spent a lot of time during WW2 wondering how many would be completely submerged by this latest tsunami. I am relieved that it was not as bad as originally forecast.
oldmarine
14-Mar-11, 05:10
Members of my family live in Hawaii. Been a nightmare trying to get in touch with them. Fingers crossed the island doesn't get hit too hard :(
I hope you have heard from them by now. It must feel like setting on pins and needles awaiting to hear from them. A close American Samoan friend of mine now living in San Diego, CA is anxiously trying to get in touch with his family in American Samoa.
The Japanese psyche and stoicism will get them through, we don't see wild sobbing, or falling apart, no letting go even when they witness their families being wrenched from them in the tsunami.
It is the Japanese way.
But I was amazed to listen on the Japanese TV to a kiwi who recounted his experience, when he was aware the tidal wave was coming right towards him, he jumped into a vehicle and the Japanese driver sped away from the fast approaching wave and it's attendant massive debris as it closely followed them up the road.
He could not believe it when the driver - still in obvious danger - halted at a stop sign - yet the intersection was deserted.. it took a whole lot of cajoling for the kiwi to urge the driver to ignore the sign and get away from impending death..
It is the Japanese way.
A Mother loses her child...
A Father loses his child...
A family are ripped apart...
Are they alive; are they dead...
Are my "kin" suffering...
Where do I go from here...
??????????????????????????????
annemarie482
15-Mar-11, 17:56
a friend of mine living in osaka japan has sent me this link
http://www.jma.go.jp/en/quake/quake_singen_index.html
keeping record of the quakes as they happen.
thought it might be of interest to others following whats happening in japan.
she says they have had a few quakes today one of which was quite big.
SunnyChick
16-Mar-11, 14:31
In the late 1980's a Japanese family by the name of Kuno stayed in Thurso for a while. (Work at Dounreay brought them here.) Then then moved on to Austria, and then back to Japan.
Over the years, as often happens, we lost touch. On hearing about the Tsunami we became very worried for them.
Anyway, I just got word this morning that the Kuno family are all safe and well.:D
oldmarine
16-Mar-11, 19:22
In the late 1980's a Japanese family by the name of Kuno stayed in Thurso for a while. (Work at Dounreay brought them here.) Then then moved on to Austria, and then back to Japan.
Over the years, as often happens, we lost touch. On hearing about the Tsunami we became very worried for them.
Anyway, I just got word this morning that the Kuno family are all safe and well.:D
That has to leave you with a good feeling knowing your Kuno family friends are safe and well. I received a good note from my American Samoan friend that all of his family are safe and well.
SunnyChick
16-Mar-11, 22:57
I received a good note from my American Samoan friend that all of his family are safe and well.
It sure is good to hear some good news.
Quite sobering, but we seem to be losing site of the fact that thousands have died, but we're concentrating on the nuclear problems they are having.. this piece *puts a lot of it into perspective
'The apocalyptic visions of destruction brought by the Japanese earthquake and subsequent tsunami have been largely replaced in the media this week by reports of the struggle to control radiation from the stricken Fukushima nuclear plant.
In contrast, few in the west of England seem concerned at the natural radiation they are exposed to from the earth in the form of the gas radon, even though it is estimated to lead to more than 1,000 cancer deaths a year in this country.
The perception of the extreme risk of radiation exposure is also somewhat contradicted by the experience of 87,000 survivors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, who have been followed up for their whole lives. By 1992, over 40,000 had died, but it has been estimated that only 690 of those deaths were due to the radiation. Again, the psychological effects were major.
Radiation does, however, feel acceptable when used in benign circumstances such as medical imaging. You can pay £100 and get a whole-body CT scan as part of a medical check-up, but it can deliver you a dose equivalent to being 1.5 miles from the centre of the Hiroshima explosion' Because more than 70 million CT scans are carried out each year, the US National Cancer Institute has estimated that 29,000 Americans will get cancer as a result of the CT scans they received in 2007 alone.
* http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-12785274
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