# 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:** 9
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2011, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/large-earthquake-in-northeast-japan/574279/161 "2011-03-11T19:31:57Z")
Chris Hannay/The Globe and Mail: Japan’s Meteorological Agency says a magnitude 6.6 earthquake struck the central, mountainous part of the country hours after a massive quake hit off the country’s northeastern coast. Dozens of aftershocks have rattled Japan’s northeast since Friday’s magnitude 8.9 temblor, but the most recent quake was in an entirely different location. The latest quake hit early Saturday at a depth of 10 kilometres, about 170 kilometres north of Tokyo. It caused buildings in Tokyo to sway. There were no immediate reports of damage. (from Associated Press) ---
**Author:** ![Oakminster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/77aa72/32.png) [@Oakminster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oakminster)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2011, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/large-earthquake-in-northeast-japan/574279/162 "2011-03-11T19:32:26Z")
Missed the edit window, but I googled up a map of the area. If there’s more tsunamis from the new quake, looks like North Korea, South Korea, and Russia are in harm’s way. And may not have much time to react… ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2011, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/large-earthquake-in-northeast-japan/574279/163 "2011-03-11T19:33:29Z")
> [@gonzomax](#): > > The death count wont be determined for a long time. But the nuke plant is on fire. The pres says the US has sent experts to help contain the damage. The Japanese can not get around . > It was like slow motion hell. The water picked up all kinds of debris as large of houses and just pushed it across the land. It was powerful enough to push anything in its way along with it. Your post reminds me of an article I read in Smithsonian magazine, from 1988. They had an article about the centennial of the Johnstown, PA flood, and were able to interview an survivor, a little old lady who was 106. She was old enough to actually remember the event and said that by the time the flood from the broken dam hit the town it didn’t look like water but a moving wall of junk, trees, rocks, broken buildings and so on. Her father saved his family by not trying to outrun the flood, but taking them sideways up the slope of the narrow valley the town was located in. ---
**Author:** ![rocking\_chair](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rocking_chair/32/2918_2.png) [@rocking\_chair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rocking_chair)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2011, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/large-earthquake-in-northeast-japan/574279/164 "2011-03-11T19:34:02Z")
usgs is saying 6.2 for nagano. [http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/recenteqsww/Quakes/usc0001z2a.php](http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/recenteqsww/Quakes/usc0001z2a.php) unless there is a fault line that connects the 2 epicenters this is a separate quake on the other side. ---
**Author:** ![rocking\_chair](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rocking_chair/32/2918_2.png) [@rocking\_chair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rocking_chair)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2011, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/large-earthquake-in-northeast-japan/574279/165 "2011-03-11T19:35:48Z")
no tsunami warnings for the nagano quake. the quake was very close to the surface. ---
**Author:** ![Ogre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ecb155/32.png) [@Ogre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ogre)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2011, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/large-earthquake-in-northeast-japan/574279/166 "2011-03-11T19:38:33Z")
> [@rocking\_chair](#): > > san fran sticks out more to the west. also cresent city is a near perfect tsunami bowl. > > now nagano is reporting a 6.6 quake. that is on the other side of japan, so it is not part of the aftershocks that are shaking tokyo’s side. > > this is not good for japan. I don’t think it’s necessarily true that the Nagano quake is unconnected with the earlier Sendai quake. The plates have just had a massive amount of tension released. This quake could be a manifestation of that. [The North American Plate](http://www.ofspiritandsoul.com/images/vortices/tectonic-plates.jpg), which wraps around the Pacific Plate, and ironically includes the northern Japanese Islands, could be rebounding, which could cause aftershock quakes all over the place. ---
**Author:** ![Baron\_Greenback](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baron_greenback/32/48_2.png) [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2011, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/large-earthquake-in-northeast-japan/574279/167 "2011-03-11T19:38:57Z")
> [@rocking\_chair](#): > > usgs is saying 6.2 for nagano. [http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/recenteqsww/Quakes/usc0001z2a.php](http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/recenteqsww/Quakes/usc0001z2a.php) > > unless there is a fault line that connects the 2 epicenters this is a separate quake on the other side. 1km depth. That might not be very good. ---
**Author:** ![Oakminster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/77aa72/32.png) [@Oakminster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oakminster)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2011, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/large-earthquake-in-northeast-japan/574279/168 "2011-03-11T19:40:56Z")
[Here](http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/2011/japan.quake/map/?hpt=T1) is a map of Japan that lets you zoom in and out. Being utterly ignorant of the geography over there, I find it helpful… ---
**Author:** ![Yeticus\_Rex](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/a698b9/32.png) [@Yeticus\_Rex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yeticus_Rex)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2011, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/large-earthquake-in-northeast-japan/574279/169 "2011-03-11T19:53:52Z")
> [@Baker](#): > > Autolycus is in Aomori City. This is a Wikipedia link to an article about the area, with a map showing where it is. [Aomori - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aomori,_Aomori) > > Does anyone know how close this is to the tsunami footage. It looks awfully close to the sea. My apologies if anyone has already answered this, but while I was looking on my computer on Google Maps (last night), I found the area that was videotaped being inundated by the wall of mud, cars and houses going through the fields… [The video was taken of the area just north of the Natori River.](http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&client=dell-usuk&q=&ad=w5&adsafe=high&safe=high&ie=UTF8&ll=38.183393,140.95489&spn=0.006156,0.013937&t=h&z=17) The tsunami seems to be about one half mile inward from the mouth of the Narori river and the video stopped just before it reached the highway 10 road/bridge. ---
**Author:** ![user\_hostile](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/user_hostile/32/474_2.png) [@user\_hostile](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/user_hostile)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2011, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/large-earthquake-in-northeast-japan/574279/170 "2011-03-11T19:54:30Z")
I’m arguing from ignorance here–how long between the quake and the first tsunami wave hitting the closest shore in Japan? Would they have felt the quake and said, “been there, done that” and continue doing whatever they were doing, only to get wiped out, or would an alarm sounded warning them to move to higher ground? I’ve always had the impression that Japan has some sort of coastal warning system? Is that true? I would presume the time of quake vs. warning vs. the tsunami was so short that most people never had a chance–but more importantly, the height and distance of the tsunami surge was never anticipated. I would have assumed being a mile inland in farm country would have caused the surge to “wear down” by the time it moved in that far. . .:smack::smack::smack::(☹ :(. My heart goes out to everyone in Japan. ---
**Author:** ![gonzomax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e8c25b/32.png) [@gonzomax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzomax)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2011, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/large-earthquake-in-northeast-japan/574279/171 "2011-03-11T20:03:58Z")
Good thing Japan has stringent regulation in building earthquake resistant buildings and structures. The deaths would have been much higher from the quake itself.There is no way to be safe from a tsunami though. ---
**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 11, 2011, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/large-earthquake-in-northeast-japan/574279/172 "2011-03-11T20:05:25Z")
Cripes. Looking at the USGS site, how many of those aftershocks were major earthquakes in themselves? Is a 6 considered a major earthquake? ---
**Author:** ![Oakminster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/77aa72/32.png) [@Oakminster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oakminster)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2011, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/large-earthquake-in-northeast-japan/574279/173 "2011-03-11T20:07:52Z")
Saw on CNN that no injuries or major damage has been reported after the Nagano quake. ---
**Author:** ![rocking\_chair](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rocking_chair/32/2918_2.png) [@rocking\_chair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rocking_chair)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2011, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/large-earthquake-in-northeast-japan/574279/174 "2011-03-11T20:08:04Z")
user hostile, not long at all for the areas closest to the epicenter. minutes really for sendai 80ish miles away, the wave (s) move very quickly. sunspace, 6 is considered a major shake. it isn’t considered a major quake in this case because it followed the larger one, but the aftershocks do quite a bit of damage. not to mention the damage to people’s nerves who are feeling them for days. ---
**Author:** ![Yeticus\_Rex](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/a698b9/32.png) [@Yeticus\_Rex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yeticus_Rex)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2011, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/large-earthquake-in-northeast-japan/574279/175 "2011-03-11T20:09:33Z")
> [@Yeticus\_Rex](#): > > My apologies if anyone has already answered this, but while I was looking on my computer on Google Maps (last night), I found the area that was videotaped being inundated by the wall of mud, cars and houses going through the fields… > > [The video was taken of the area just north of the Natori River.](http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&client=dell-usuk&q=&ad=w5&adsafe=high&safe=high&ie=UTF8&ll=38.183393,140.95489&spn=0.006156,0.013937&t=h&z=17) The tsunami seems to be about one half mile inward from the mouth of the **Narori** river and the video stopped just before it reached the highway 10 road/bridge. **Natori** River that is…video started when the mud just crossed the canal listed as Ipponmatsu, and continued westward (left on map) towards highway 10. The houses and cars were from the little township of Fujitsuka on the right side of map which was already destroyed. ---
**Author:** ![Achren](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/898d66/32.png) [@Achren](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Achren)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2011, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/large-earthquake-in-northeast-japan/574279/176 "2011-03-11T20:12:41Z")
> [@Sunspace](#): > > Cripes. Looking at the USGS site, how many of those aftershocks were major earthquakes in themselves? Is a 6 considered a major earthquake? And the ones that came before - they were having shocks in the 6 range a couple days ago. ---
**Author:** ![user\_hostile](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/user_hostile/32/474_2.png) [@user\_hostile](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/user_hostile)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2011, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/large-earthquake-in-northeast-japan/574279/177 "2011-03-11T20:14:57Z")
> [@rocking\_chair](#): > > user hostile, not long at all for the areas closest to the epicenter. minutes really for sendai 80ish miles away, the wave (s) move very quickly. Thanks, 80 miles / 500 mph ==\> about ten minutes. Ecch, that’s virtually no time to get out of there, especially if your not sure about what just happened…☹ ---
**Author:** ![Yeticus\_Rex](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/a698b9/32.png) [@Yeticus\_Rex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yeticus_Rex)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2011, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/large-earthquake-in-northeast-japan/574279/178 "2011-03-11T20:18:56Z")
Maybe more time than that…as the surge approaches shallow waters, it slows down considerably, but then it’s amplitude (height) builds. My WAG is more like 20-30 minutes. ---
**Author:** ![user\_hostile](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/user_hostile/32/474_2.png) [@user\_hostile](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/user_hostile)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2011, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/large-earthquake-in-northeast-japan/574279/179 "2011-03-11T20:21:28Z")
> [@Yeticus\_Rex](#): > > Maybe more time than that…as the surge approaches shallow waters, it slows down considerably, but then it’s amplitude (height) builds. My WAG is more like 20-30 minutes. Yeah, I should added a fudge factor for that, but I know nothing about the littoral dynamics of tsunamis. Would it really delay it that much? ---
**Author:** ![Kyla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/eada6e/32.png) [@Kyla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyla)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2011, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/large-earthquake-in-northeast-japan/574279/180 "2011-03-11T20:25:56Z")
The Coast Guard is looking for a guy who was swept out to sea while taking pictures of the tsunami. Not clear on exactly where this was - maybe Crescent City? It’s unkind of me to think negatively of someone in a tragic situation, but seriously? What kind of fucking moron are you? :rolleyes: [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/large-earthquake-in-northeast-japan/574279.md?page=8) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/large-earthquake-in-northeast-japan/574279.md?page=10)