The biggest earthquake in Japan’s history

Today at about 2:45PM I was outside and I noticed the telephone wires overheard begin to swing wildly. It was a nice sunny day and not windy at all, so I was wondering why the wires would suddenly be moving like that.

And then as soon as it dawned on me that it was probably due to an 地震 (earthquake)…I felt the ground shake. I’ve been in a number of earthquakes here in Japan but this was the strongest I’ve felt the ground move. It gave me a queasy feeling.
It lasted a few minutes…which is quite enough time for an earthquake to do a lot of damage…and it got stronger. The buildings in front of me began to sway.

For the next few hours there were many aftershocks. Some of them quite strong.
It’s now 7:00PM and the most recent aftershock was about thirty minutes ago.
Maybe it’s finally over. I hope so! It was quite scary.

Actually though, we were lucky. A lot of things fell over in our house…but no serious damage—and most importantly, none of us were hurt.

Unfortunately, many people weren’t so lucky. At least nineteen people have been confirmed dead.
This earthquake, which has already been named—「２０１１年東北地方太平洋沖地震」 (“2011 Tohoku-Region Pacific Earthquake”), registered a 7 on Japan’s 震度 (Shindo) earthquake scale at the epicenter in Sendai, Japan!
“7” is the highest rating on that scale!
In Tokyo, it was rated as “5” in parts of the city and “6” in others.
On the western “Richter” earthquake scale, it was rated at “8.9“.

 

Tsunami warning map of Japan

A 津波 (“Tsunami” tidal wave) caused by the earthquake hit Sendai and swept up cars and boats and caused casualties and damage.

Boats upturned by the Tsunami. (photo ©Yahoo News)

In the Tokyo area, the earthquake caused a couple large fires.

A building in Odaiba, Tokyo caught fire in the earthquake (photo ©Yahoo News)

An oil refinery in Chiba, Japan near Tokyo caught ablaze in the earthquake (photo ©Yahoo News)

The 「２０１１年東北地方太平洋沖地震」 (“2011 Tohoku-Region Pacific Earthquake”) is officially the biggest earthquake on record in Japan’s history. And it’s in the top ten of the world’s biggest.
The said on the TV news that today’s earthquake was 180 times more powerful at it’s epicenter in Sendai, Japan than the 「関東大震災」 (Great Kanto Earthquake) that flattened Tokyo in 1923!

Tsunami

Yesterday a very strong 地震 (earthquake) hit the South American country of Chile.

Damage in Chile from 2010 Feb 27 earthquake

This earthquake caused a strong 津浪 (tsunami), tidal wave, in the Pacific Ocean…and it’s currently headed straight for the Pacific coast of Japan (which includes Tokyo)!

On this map, the areas in red are in danger of 3m waves, in orange is in danger of 2m, and the yellow areas have a warning of 0.5m waves.  Tokyo is in part of the orange area.

This tsunami is forecast to hit Japan at about 2:30PM today. People near the east coastal areas of Japan have been advised to evacuate. We live far enough inland that we should be fine.

The last tsunami warning Japan had was after the Indonesian earthquakes last winter. (Click here to read the post I wrote about it.)
No tsunami hit Japan that time.
The last tsunami to hit Japan was in the summer of 1993. Over 200 people died in the northern island of Hokkaido.
Hopefully no one will even be injured in this one!

—By the way, as I mentioned in my post yesterday, the 2010 Tokyo Marathon is being held today…and a friend of mine is running in it.
Hopefully everyone will be OK. It was raining very hard this morning in Tokyo, so I didn’t go out to watch the marathon…I’m watching it on TV.

津波

Two strong 地震 (earthquakes) struck Indonesia today. At least three people are dead.
地震 (earthquakes) are terrible. The strike suddenly with no warning. With most other natural disasters, people are given warning and a chance to evacuate.

In Japan, there is an expression that says the four scariest things are: 地震 (earthquakes), 雷 (Lightning / Thunder), 火事 (fire), and 親父 (father).

There’s a centuries old folklore in Japan that a giant ナマズ (catfish) caused earthquakes. And now, some scientists in Japan say that ナマズ (catfish) can predict earthquakes (scientists around the world say that about many different types of animals).

Because of this, many times in Japan signs for 地震 (earthquake) evacuation routes will have a picture of a ナマズ (catfish).

Anyways, because of the 地震 (earthquake) in Indonesia, the Japanese 気象庁 (Meteorological Agency) has issued a 津波注意報 (Tsunami Advisory) for many parts of Japan (especially on the Pacific coast side (where Tokyo is).

(By the way, did you know that 津波 (tsunami) is a Japanese word? It translates directly to “harbor wave“…but the English equivalent is “tidal wave“.)

Click here to visit the Japanese 気象庁 (Meteorological Agency) website.