# Large earthquake in Northeast Japan **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [March 11, 2011, 6:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/large-earthquake-in-northeast-japan/574279 "2011-03-11T06:10:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 18
**Author:** ![Autolycus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/22d042/32.png) [@Autolycus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Autolycus)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2011, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/large-earthquake-in-northeast-japan/574279/341 "2011-03-13T16:51:23Z")
I don’t think Aomori City was affected at all, but there very well could be some minor damage. Now it’s bed time. I have work in 5.5 hours. Oyasumi. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2011, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/large-earthquake-in-northeast-japan/574279/342 "2011-03-13T17:01:16Z")
Friday I was in the office and could not follow the news. Yesterday roomie was watching 1930s movies. By the time I saw this thread, it was too long for me to follow since I was doing other things. So I apologise if someone has already answered this. I was surprised to hear a death toll of 10,000 in one city alone. I’m finding reports of that online. Last I heard (on Friday, on the radio) was ‘hundreds’ dead. So 10,000 came as a bit of a shock. Does anyone have the latest total death toll? ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2011, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/large-earthquake-in-northeast-japan/574279/343 "2011-03-13T17:08:29Z")
I’m only following it intermittently at the moment, but I think it’s 10,000 missing. Could be that many of these evacuated and have not been able to phone relatives or authorities due to downed lines and systems. No doubt many of those will indeed turn out to be dead. I think that was in one prefecture though, not one city; correct me if I’m wrong, but I think Japan has prefectures like other countries have states or provinces. I think I read a house was washed away on Maui but otherwise not much damage in Hawaii. ---
**Author:** ![Lasciel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e79b87/32.png) [@Lasciel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lasciel)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2011, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/large-earthquake-in-northeast-japan/574279/344 "2011-03-13T18:21:03Z")
Miyagi Prefecture is supposed to still have 10,000 citizens unaccounted for - several of their seaside cities were the hardest (and most quickly) hit by the tsunami, and those cities are completely GONE, with little to no real time between the earthquake and the tsunami striking. Those people would have very little realistic chance of making it to safety, so while they are officially still counted as missing, anyone surviving from those cities will be miraculous. In contrast to the missing list, most reports are saying pretty consistently that 400 have been confirmed dead in Miyagi, and 200 dead on the Sendai beaches. I cannot tell from the reports if the 400 total includes the casualties from Sendai or not. Other than Sendai, towns which are badly affected (names I’ve gotten from reports) are as follows: Rikuzentakata, pop 20,000 Minamisanrikucho, pop 10,000 (I’m pretty sure this particular city is the one in Miyagi where most news agencies are getting the 10,000 dead figure from) Tagajo (outskirts of Sendai), no pop count. Iwaki, no pop count. ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2011, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/large-earthquake-in-northeast-japan/574279/345 "2011-03-13T18:54:27Z")
Video from the inside of Sendai airport when the tsunami hit (it does say that this is a commercial center, but the structures are the Sendai airport) looking at the access road and parking lot. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/3LrjgOUN6QI/hqdefault.jpg "Japan Tsunami arrived on a Airport and destroyed thousand cars - March 2011") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3LrjgOUN6QI) ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2011, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/large-earthquake-in-northeast-japan/574279/346 "2011-03-13T20:34:22Z")
[And now there’s apparently a volcano erupting](http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fgw-japan-quake-volcano-20110314,0,2486939.story?track=rss): > [@Los Angeles Times](#): > > The Japanese weather agency has reported that a volcano in southern Japan began spewing ash and rock even as the country struggled to recover Sunday from the catastrophic earthquake and tsunami. > > Japan’s Meteorological Agency issued a warning Sunday that the Shinmoedake volcano resumed activity after lying dormant for a couple of weeks. > > [snip] > > Sunday’s eruption, which was the biggest volcanic activity in Shinmoedake in 52 years, caused widespread destruction and panic. The blast could be heard for miles, and shattered windows four miles away, the BBC reported. Hundreds of people fled the area as the volcano spewed debris, including hot ash and rocks, more than 6,000 feet in the air, according to BBC reports. (Firefox’s top spelling correction for Shinmoedake was ‘Ship-breaker’.) This makes some sense, though: Tectonic activity powers both earthquakes and volcanoes. On the other hand, when will Japan finally get left alone? [The Daily Heil has pictures.](http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1351064/Japan-raises-alert-following-volcanos-biggest-eruption-50-years.html) ---
**Author:** ![ComeToTheDarkSideWeHaveCookies](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e9bcb4/32.png) [@ComeToTheDarkSideWeHaveCookies](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ComeToTheDarkSideWeHaveCookies)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2011, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/large-earthquake-in-northeast-japan/574279/347 "2011-03-13T20:35:12Z")
I only have a facebook video link for this, but the footage in it is just jaw-dropping. https://www.facebook.com/plugins/video.php?height=224&width=400&href=https://www.facebook.com/jmacwhyte/videos/1605260179420/ ---
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2011, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/large-earthquake-in-northeast-japan/574279/348 "2011-03-13T20:45:18Z")
CNN is reporting that a man was rescued 9 miles out to sea from the roof of his house. > [@](#): > > A dramatic rescue also took place off Japan’s coast Sunday, when a Japanese destroyer rescued a 60-year-old man at sea, some 15 kilometers (9 miles) off Fukushima prefecture, according to Kyodo News Agency. > > The man, identified as Hiromitsu Shinkawa of Minami Soma, was swept away with his house, Kyodo said. He was spotted floating in the sea, waving a self-made red flag while standing on a piece of his house’s roof. > > Shinkawa was conscious and in good condition, Kyodo said, citing Defense Ministry officials. He was quoted as telling rescuers he had left his home because of the quake, but returned home to grab some belongings with his wife when the tsunami hit. “I was saved by holding onto the roof,” he said, “but my wife was swept away.” ---
**Author:** ![teela\_brown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d9b06d/32.png) [@teela\_brown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/teela_brown)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2011, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/large-earthquake-in-northeast-japan/574279/349 "2011-03-13T21:07:48Z")
> [@Colophon](#): > > This video is pretty terrifying. The building it was filmed from must have been pretty strong to stand up to the wave. > > [Japan earthquake: Footage of moment tsunami hit - BBC News](http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-12725646) I saw this on the news this morning. Great god almighty. A sea wall? The ocean laughs at such trifles at a time like this. The people on the balcony don’t look as terrified as I’m sure I would be. ---
**Author:** ![Peremensoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ce7236/32.png) [@Peremensoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peremensoe)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2011, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/large-earthquake-in-northeast-japan/574279/350 "2011-03-13T21:16:44Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > I was surprised to hear a death toll of 10,000 in one city alone. I’m finding reports of that online. Last I heard (on Friday, on the radio) was ‘hundreds’ dead. So 10,000 came as a bit of a shock. Does anyone have the latest total death toll? The early reports were based on bodies _seen_ in a few places. The more recent guesses are based on numbers missing in areas that were substantially devastated, and reasonable conjecture is that many of those missing must be dead. But it will be several days at least before we get close to a realistic “confirmed” death toll. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2011, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/large-earthquake-in-northeast-japan/574279/351 "2011-03-13T21:17:01Z")
> [@China\_Guy](#): > > To those who think there wasn’t enough warning time, at least in Japan on the coast, if you feel an earthquake, then run for high ground. > > Part of the problem with the 2004 Indonesian earthquake was that in places far away like Thailand it wasn’t felt. A lot of beaches had zero warning until the water started to flow out. Even that was enough warning to clear some of the beaches such as in Phuket. In other words, water gets sucked out before the tsunami rolls in and it can look like an ultra low tide. Some of the people on the beach raised the alarm and a lot of people were able to reach higher ground before the tsunami came in. Now there are clearly marked tsunami evacuation paths (run like hell this way to get away from the water). To add to this with anecdote: on one beach on Phi Phi in 2004, when the water receded, a lone Japanese woman knew _instantly_ what the implication of the water’s behavior was. They get the message hammered into them at school etc. She ran up and down the beach screaming “tsunami! Go up the hill!” and was largely ignored, because many people there didn’t know what a tsunami was, and others just thought she was crazy. In the end she ran up a hill with a couple of people who believed her, but the rest stayed on the beach. ☹ So, I hope, though the death toll will no doubt be horrifically high, many of the residents of all those houses we saw being pulverized by the waves were sufficiently primed to be up somewhere high, or a long way inland, the moment they felt the earthquake. Certainly if any country were to minimize the death toll, it would be Japan. **Colophon** that video is… :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2011, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/large-earthquake-in-northeast-japan/574279/352 "2011-03-13T21:37:52Z")
> [@Lasciel](#): > > Minamisanrikucho, pop 10,000… Minor side note: _minami_ (南) means “south”. So Minamisanrikucho is “South Sanrikucho”. Likewise, _nishi_ (西) is “west”, _higashi_ (東) is “east”, and _kita_ (北) is “north”. I was tickled pink to see these popping up in place names after being introduced to them in Japanese class. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2011, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/large-earthquake-in-northeast-japan/574279/353 "2011-03-13T21:48:20Z")
**ComeToTheDarkSideWeHaveCookies** , that video is :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: Holy living shit. ---
**Author:** ![whiterabbit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/cab0a1/32.png) [@whiterabbit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/whiterabbit)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2011, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/large-earthquake-in-northeast-japan/574279/354 "2011-03-13T21:54:09Z")
I was taught as a little girl about when to get to higher ground by my mom, who’d been taught by some people she knew living on the Oregon coast. I don’t live near a coast but if I did, I’d pay attention. I only hope if I’m ever in that situation I have time to move; I’m guessing a lot of the people in the worst-hit areas simply didn’t have enough. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![ComeToTheDarkSideWeHaveCookies](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e9bcb4/32.png) [@ComeToTheDarkSideWeHaveCookies](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ComeToTheDarkSideWeHaveCookies)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2011, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/large-earthquake-in-northeast-japan/574279/355 "2011-03-13T21:57:30Z")
> [@jjimm](#): > > **ComeToTheDarkSideWeHaveCookies** , that video is :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: > > Holy living shit. Seriously. I mean…from a van driving up the dry road mere feet in front of the water, to half of the surrounding buildings floating away in the blink of an eye. ---
**Author:** ![Asimovian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asimovian/32/172_2.png) [@Asimovian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asimovian)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2011, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/large-earthquake-in-northeast-japan/574279/356 "2011-03-13T22:21:10Z")
> [@ComeToTheDarkSideWeHaveCookies](#): > > Seriously. I mean…from a van driving up the dry road mere feet in front of the water, to half of the surrounding buildings floating away in the blink of an eye. Absolutely amazing. I think I was most struck by how the railing on the stairs where the filmer had been standing was torn away a few short minutes later. ---
**Author:** ![Onomatopoeia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/onomatopoeia/32/4145_2.png) [@Onomatopoeia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Onomatopoeia)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2011, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/large-earthquake-in-northeast-japan/574279/357 "2011-03-13T23:01:06Z")
> [@Sunspace](#): > > Minor side note: _minami_ (南) means “south”. So Minamisanrikucho is “South Sanrikucho”. Minamisanrikucho (南三陸町) even breaks down a little more precisely than that, as cho (町) means block, small town, or neighborhood. Its use is similar to Japan’s famous Kabukicho (歌舞伎町) red light district. So Minamisanrikucho means “South neighborhood of Sanriku”. Sanriku (三陸) can be broken down even further to mean 3 places or 3 lands. ---
**Author:** ![Onomatopoeia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/onomatopoeia/32/4145_2.png) [@Onomatopoeia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Onomatopoeia)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2011, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/large-earthquake-in-northeast-japan/574279/358 "2011-03-13T23:14:33Z")
> [@ComeToTheDarkSideWeHaveCookies](#): > > I only have a facebook video link for this, but the footage in it is just jaw-dropping. > > [19K reactions · 963 shares | I want to show everyone the news media we are being presented with here in Japan. I think it's quite different from what you see on CNN and other Western news outlets. Due to the popularity of this video, I have started a new page to collect my personal experiences as well as release Japanese news reports about the Tsunami. Please like it to keep up to date! http://www.facebook.com/ThroughWesternEyes Note: This video was not shot by me. Although I am a cameraman, I live in Tokyo 180 miles from the disaster zone. I recorded this video from TV to pass on. It is copyrighted by Asahi TV and can't be posted on YouTube or other sites. I technically shouldn't be able to post it here, but I'll leave it up as long as I get away with it! Google streets view of where this video was shot: http://bit.ly/for0zS | James MacWhyte](http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=1605260179420&comments) Oh my. Absolutely surreal. ---
**Author:** ![Bookkeeper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bookkeeper/32/281_2.png) [@Bookkeeper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bookkeeper)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2011, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/large-earthquake-in-northeast-japan/574279/359 "2011-03-13T23:26:51Z")
I have the Tectonic app on my iPad. Sometimes it shows a couple of overlapping circles indicating recent earthquakes in a location. I looked at it today and, even at the largest resolution, the whole of Japan is almost totally obscured by a vast cloud of quake icons from all the aftershocks! ---
**Author:** ![Autolycus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/22d042/32.png) [@Autolycus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Autolycus)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2011, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/large-earthquake-in-northeast-japan/574279/360 "2011-03-13T23:44:13Z")
At school now. We have a shortened schedule. I only have class second period. The principal looked dog-tired and pale, but everyone else has been remarkably unfazed, at least on the tatemae. I can’t wait to get back to my office honestly. My supervisor informed me that because our building is also the fire department, it has specifically been built to withstand up to a 6.0. Unless we get a direct hit, at least me and my co-workers should be safe. I feel kinda selfish when I think of others though… I got the stress shits. Ugh. TMI sorry. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/large-earthquake-in-northeast-japan/574279.md?page=17) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/large-earthquake-in-northeast-japan/574279.md?page=19)