8.8 Earthquake hits off the coast of Japan

[berniebrewer4life]

Just happen within the last hour. Tsunami warnings have been issued for Tokyo.

 

It hit 231 mi NE of Tokyo, and 80 mi E of Sendai. Hopefully nobody gets

hurt. They are just REALLY lucky it wasn't on land. That would have been

a disaster.

[owbc]

This was the 7th largest earthquake ever recorded. I think because it was on a submarine thrust fault it was not possible for it to occur under land. Japan is well prepared for earthquakes but you can't do much for the people along the coast when it occurred so close to the shore. The tsunami will likely be responsible for the majority of the deaths, but it appears that there was only superficial building damage. Hopefully the death toll is not too bad and rescue efforts go well.

 

It is interesting also that this is causing oil prices to drop, since Japan is the 3rd largest importer and their economy will likely slow down for a little while.

[GormanHarvey]

I wonder how big of a concern their coastal nuclear power plants are?

[fondybrewfan]

They apparently evacuated areas around one power plant because the cooling system failed. I don't believe there are any reports of a radiation disaster though. Some of the pictures on the web are just amazing on this. If there is any good news on this it is that the hardest hit part was not heavily populated. If this had struck closer to Tokyo it could have been 10x worse. Its obviously still awful and puts a lot of things in perspective. Its times like this where I am happy I live in WI and only have to worry about snow and tornadoes.

[RobDeer 45]

I heard there was just another earthquake measuring 6.6 or something like that. Man, not good.

[Teatoe993]

I flew out of Narita about 19 hours before this hit. Jesus I dodged a bullet. Glad to be back home. I can't help but think and grieve for my friends over there and their loved ones who have to deal with this first hand.

[Schlitz001]

I hope everyone you know over there is safe and well teatoe.

 

Check out these pictures from The Atlantic. Truly incredible and devastating images.

[DatHoser]

I doubt he peruses these forums, but to Takashi Saito, I hope all goes well for your family. That's got to be an unimaginable feeling.