The Japan Tsunami

Yesterday, Japan was hit by a huge earthquake followed by a tsunami. It was just terrible. What can you say about that?? I mean, that's a reason why we should make our lives precious because things like that could happen anytime before we know it.

One of the most shocking things they said on the news was the tsumani reaching 6 miles inland.

I was watching it in the wee hours of the morning and watching a small handful of cars trying to escape which where swept away, no need to even speculate the outcome those motorist had, and also someone running on foot that was overtaken by the wave.

You know, I think tsunamis can definitely affect the tourist economy on the Pacific islands that you would associate with beaches like Hawaii. I live in the Pacific and I live at least 11 kilometers from the sea and at least we are on a higher ground level than the shoreline (thank God for that) because were on the foot of the mountain and I suspect that some people who live near the shorelines did evacuate yesterday or last night.

Japan had a double disaster because an earthquake followed by a tsunami struck them. The wave was actually carrying debris, houses, wood, cars, rubble and mud across the farmlands.

I've watched it off an on throughout the night and now they're having problems with those nuclear sites. I've never seen so many cars smashed and piled up. They said on the news the main island as a result of the earthquake has moved 2.5 meters.

I think the nuclear plant did explode:

News

There's a lot more reason why people should be alert. The disaster they had had a chain reaction. Now the are headline news on many news websites.

As in most disasters there are always the stories of incredible survival.

A 60 year old man has just been rescued from the roof of his house... not too incredible you may think until you are told that they found him clinging to the roof 9 miles out at sea.

The events in Japan are indeed a terrible tragedy and I hope my brothers and sisters on this forum will join me in extending deepest condolences and prayers to those affected. It is indeed sad.

I'm particularly in tune with the effect of the nuclear plant damage having worked young on the first one built here. They are a special breed as opposed to a hydroelectric version. An engineer stated that if all factors are present the least would be one's hair falling out into their cereal, emphasizing the danger of this energy source.

It's been a terrible occurrence and I hope it's being taken seriously in this country. It could be us. Have a good day if that's possible.

Warlock

The images coming out of Japan are just simply staggering.

Sitting watching them from the safety of our homes, we really can't imagine the awesome destructive power of that tsunami.

How on earth does a society even begin to recover from that? Like all you guys, my thoughts are with all those poor people.

How on earth does a society even begin to recover from that?

It will literally take years, and some areas may just be abandoned for mother nature to reclaim! Unfortunately some of those small towns may never be rebuilt.

I know Japan has sea walls, but I wonder now how big they'll have to upgrade them to better protect against another similar sized tsunami.

Not to minimize things, because this is a terrible tragedy, but the US did drop two nuclear bombs with much more devastating effect, and Japan regrew into a wonderful country, vibrant, economically strong and whole again. With time, these poor people will do the same. Too bad that there are so many ways (war, earthquakes, tsunamis,etc.) for people to die in mass numbers. Hopefully the world community will help them rebuild their lives as best as can be.

Who needs Godzilla when you have Japanese tsunamis. Those pics & videos (and there's new ones every day) are just jaw-dropping. Complete devastation. But I'm sure the Japanese will pull through even this.

Take a look at current pictures of Hiroshima, and then look at current pics of Detroit. <_<

That will devastate their economy for sure. There are far more casualties when US dropped bombs on them but the scale of the devastation of the earthquake, the tsunami and the the pending nuclear trouble affects the whole nation of Japan. Imagine, thousands of people with no safe drinking water, no food, no electricity and no houses to live on. There are still aftershocks going on right now. Its hell on earth.

...but the US did drop two nuclear bombs...

Atom bombs*

After all the disasters and quakes that happened recently; Haiti, Chile, New Zealand and then Japan, I'm beginning to speculate that maybe the 2012 end of the world scenario may be true lol. All these things happening in just over one year.

We still want to live and unless we are scaremongers and movie/sci-fi fanatics we don't wanna think about anything end of the worldish.

After all the disasters and quakes that happened recently; Haiti, Chile, New Zealand and then Japan, I'm beginning to speculate that maybe the 2012 end of the world scenario may be true lol. All these things happening in just over one year.

The Earth has different cycles of activity though, and it's forever changing as if it were a living organism. Japan's geographic location however has them in an earthquake ridden region.

I don't think many thought a tsunami would do so much damage to the country with their sea walls. I remember seeing a television program many years ago on public television heralding Japan's sea walls and how the U.S. and many other countries needed to quickly adopt them and then the 2004 Christmas tsunami hit with massive causalities. Mother nature however always has something up her sleeve to make us re-think/re-engineer, and adapt, etc., but some things just can't be protected against.

The original quake and tsunami were terrifying in themselves. Then the Fukushima reactors leaking gas, smoke, having explosions. But one of the worst things for me (being here) is the unending amount of after shocks. The just DO NOT end. More than 220 of a magnitude of 5 or more since the original quake. And they are occuring all over the place - Shizuoka, north Chiba, Niigata, Gifu... If you do not know Japanese geography that doesn't mean much I know... But the aftershocks are not all around the original but seem to be moving to the west and south... Very unnerving as it is going on 5 days since the original and the house still keeps shaking. At least we have utilities...

The Northridge quake was enough for me. Pacific, my butt. It should be called the Aggressive Ocean.