Topic: Japanese Earthquakes + Tsunami warnings

[Red Beret]

From the Guardian:

Twenty earthquakes of magnitude 4 or stronger have struck off the coast of Ishikawa and neighbouring Niigata prefectures between 4.06pm and 5.29pm local time.

The strongest earthquake is now estimated at magnitude 7.5.

Blackouts and burst water mains have been reported in towns in the affected area, while major roads are being closed due to cracks and other damage.

Tsunami advisories have been issued for as far north as the island of Hokkaido and as far south as the island of Kyushu.

No fatalities reported as yet. A modest, 1.2 meter made landfall near Wajima city, but so far images only reveal earthquake damage, so maybe it missed the city.

Russia also has tsunami warnings in place. Hopefully this isn't too serious, or isn't the precursor to bigger quakes in the coming days/weeks.

[Red Beret]

Injured patients arrive in hospital as 36,000 households without power in Japan
Gavin Blair

A magnitude 5.6 quake hit at 6.08pm off the coast of the Noto Peninsula, close to the epicentre of the strongest quake, which struck at 4.10pm local time with a magnitude estimated at 7.5.

Suzu City Hospital in Ishikawa is reporting a stream of injured patients arriving.

Transport of the injured is being delayed by damaged roads. The hospital is operating using its own generators as power has been knocked out in the surrounding district.

Temperatures in the affected area are forecast to drop to around 1C overnight, with around 36,000 households currently estimated to be without power.

New Year’s Day is the main winter holiday in Japan and many families will have to return to visit relatives in their hometowns from major cities such as Tokyo and Osaka.

[[new username under construction]]

How lucky to be born in a country with (pretty much) no Earthquakes! Can't imagine how damn scary that must be

[TepidT2O]

I’ve experienced an earth quake in the uk.  5.2 on the Richter scale.  It was genuinely quite scary.

Hundreds of times more powerful must be terrifying

[Red Beret]

Mercifully, the situation seems to be in hand, but the prospect for Tsunamis in the Ishikawa area remains unpredictable. There could still be larger waves yet to hit the coast. Warnings of waves up to 5m - let's hope that's an overestimate.

Aftershocks will likely continue to threaten buildings already damaged by the initial earthquake. Reports say there are some people trapped under rubble, but so far it doesn't sound like very many.

[jillcwhomever]

Mercifully, the situation seems to be in hand, but the prospect for Tsunamis in the Ishikawa area remains unpredictable. There could still be larger waves yet to hit the coast. Warnings of waves up to 5m - let's hope that's an overestimate.

Aftershocks will likely continue to threaten buildings already damaged by the initial earthquake. Reports say there are some people trapped under rubble, but so far it doesn't sound like very many.

According to the Guardian six people are reported to be under rubble, mercifully small so far. There is a video on there which shows literally a railway station shaking, must be really scary. Just hoping as you say those waves reports are exaggerated.

[Red Beret]

Say not exaggerated, but rather overestimated. The media exaggerates; officials will likely overestimate because it's better than underestimating and being wrong.

We saw with Fukushima that even the best prepared nations can still be overwhelmed. Hopefully not so this time.

[rafathegaffa83]

Terrible start to the New Year for the people impacted. On the plus side the sophistication of Japan's earthquake and tsunamiwarning systems may have greatly assisted in limiting the loss of life thus far

[Red Beret]

It seems tsunami warnings have been downgraded, but people are still being warned not to return to their homes as yet.

As rafa says, terrible start to the New Year for Japan, but it could have been much worse.

[rafathegaffa83]

A Japanese coast guard plane has collided with a JAL plane at Tokyo's Haneda airport. Amazingly all passengers and crew escaped the burning JAL plane; unfortunately only one passenger on the coast guard plane is known to have escaped. Some reports are stating the coast guard plane was part of earthquake relief efforts

https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/fire-breaks-out-plane-runway-japans-tokyo-haneda-airport-nhk-2024-01-02/

[Stockholm Syndrome]

Terrible start to the New Year for the people impacted. On the plus side the sophistication of Japan's earthquake and tsunamiwarning systems may have greatly assisted in limiting the loss of life thus far

That's honestly the only saving grace - Japan is probably the most well equipped nation in the world for dealing with Earthquakes and aftermaths. Systems seem to have saved a number of lives although tragically not all.

One can only hope that a similar level of efficiency to other disasters is brought to help people get back to some sense of normality soon

[LuverlyRita]

We were in New Zealand in 2016 for the last big earthquake (7.8 magnitude). I suspect the locals took it in their stride more than we did but it was a very unnerving experience. What we'd previously failed to appreciate were the number and magnitude of the aftershocks and we suddenly became frequent visitors to the NZ quake reporting service (https://www.geonet.org.nz). The aftershocks were exhausting because they interrupt your sleep and leave you on edge all the time; something as simple as the noise and vibration of a heavy lorry passing by suddenly takes on sinister overtones.
Ironically we'd not long visited the earthquake exhibit in Napier and there was an interesting story in there from a local from 1931. He'd been helping out at a farm and had been instructed to get the cattle into the barn and no matter how hard he tried, they simply wouldn't budge from outdoors. Within hours a massive earthquake hit the town. In the case of 2016, we met some people who'd been out dolphin watching prior to the earthquake. The expert who accompanied them commented that the dolphins seemed to be behaving strangely and she had no idea why. Presumably they'd picked up on something.