[Mefustae]

Seems like New Zealand was just the tip of the iceberg in Mother Nature's war on humanity.

Japan just got hit by an earthquake close in strength to that of the 2004 Indian Ocean quake. I've seen figures ranging from 7.9 to 8.9 thrown around, so that'll develop as time goes on. Safe to say, the death toll is going to be pretty damn big. I'd say this is going to be worse than the Kobe earthquake.

There's some footage of the tsunami moving into towns and farmland. This looks absolutely terrifying, especially when you consider there's a nuclear plant in the vicinity of both the quake and possibly the water.

[Mustang19]

I like the guy standing on the overpass taking pictures with his cellphone. Looks surreal.

[Mongoose]

I was watching this live with some friends in AIM chat as some of the footage broke.  Absolutely insane.  I'm just glad a few people I know who are in Japan right now have reported in.

[T-LoW]

Wow. The first video shows just how easy the tsunami makes its way past the coastal farmland. I'm glad to live in the middle of Germany. The strongest earthquake we've had was 3.3 or so...

Nature is remorseless.

[QuantumDelta]

Seems it's been revised to 8.8.. oddly my best japanese friend is in london today, she lives in an area that got hit quite badly.. all my other friends over there are net-only friends but they've reported in already, death toll already up to 19 "and many missing".. :<

[Mustang19]

I'm waiting for someone to blame global warming.

[QuantumDelta]

 

[karajorma]

I'm waiting for someone to blame global warming.

So am I

* karajorma lovingly caresses ban hammer.

[Flipside]

Keep that handy in case someone mentions the number after 2011 as well

[Mefustae]

What, are you guys BLIND? How can you not link this to global warm- *SMACK*

Ow! Was that a ****ing hammer? Why the hell would you have a hammer? Christ, I'm going to have to put some ice on this. Damn it. I mean, it's not like I mentioned that stupid Mayan doomsday prophe- *SMACK*

[newman]

To paraphrase Jack Nicholson..

If Mayas are so f***g smart, how come they're so f***g dead?

[Flipside]

To paraphrase Jack Nicholson..

If Mayas are so f***g smart, how come they're so f***g dead?

[Flipside]

Back on topic, some incredible footage of a whirlpool caused by the quake taken from a copter off the Japanese coast...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-12709856

[Mefustae]

This is going to get a whole hell of a lot worse before it gets better.

[Androgeos Exeunt]

I was watching the BBC News feed an hour ago. The images I saw were awe-inspiring and frightening.

This is the most powerful earthquake felt in Japan in 140 years. It's even more powerful than the 1923 earthquake, and that was bad enough.

Last I heard, the confirmed death toll was in the sixties, and there are some reports that 200 bodies have been found in Sendai alone. The number of people missing is not too far behind, in the fifties, and reports of a boat carrying 100 people being swept away by the tsunami, and an entire train unaccounted for.

If there is a country that can pull through such a disaster, it's Japan, but they will probably need some assistance. How the UK is going to juggle sending aid to them and handling Libya at the same time is anyone's guess.

Back on topic, some incredible footage of a whirlpool caused by the quake taken from a copter off the Japanese coast...

I hope nobody was in that boat...

[NGTM-1R]

Should be coming ashore in Hawaii about now.

[LHN91]

And the coast of British Columbia soon enough.

[Marcov]

With the world's massive population increase at hand, possibly more lives are lost in the faces of calamity??

Seriously, does this mean that karajorma actually opposes global warming as the cause of a helluva of natural disorder?

[NGTM-1R]

8 feet of water surge in Hawaii. That's the first floors on most of the hotels.

[MP-Ryan]

The couple people I know in Japan have already checked in online, but a friend of mine's sister sent a short email this morning and that's all he's heard.  Couple quotes from the fellows over there:

Yeah, I felt it! Along with the dozen or so aftershocks we've had. I'm about 100km closer to the epicenter than you are, so it was pretty damned strong -and long! (I was waiting to cross an intersection when it hit, and the light changed twice in the time it took from start to finish!)

I've felt a lot of earthquakes over the years (Hawaii, California, Japan, etc.), but I've never felt anything like THAT before... I swear, the ground was moving like the deck of a ship - swaying and rolling!

I'm about 100km inland and the tsunami are topping out at @10m (33')... So, I'm not at all concerned. Spootie, on the other hand - well, I hope he likes to surf!

Frak - another aftershock... I'm actually starting to feel seasick standing on dry land (doesn't help my office is on the 2nd floor so the movement is more noticable).

Power just came back on, we're about 430km from Sendai and my wife said the trees on the hill behind the house were shaking violently from the ground up during the event. My son was in the front yard after just getting off the school bus and said the ground was and entire hill was moving.

We have a light hanging from the ceiling that swayed almost continuously from aftershocks until about an hour ago.

No cell signal for phone calls, but the internet worked, strange.

Looks like it's pretty bad up north. They're having trouble at a nuclear power plant too.

I honestly can't even begin to count the number of earthquakes I've experienced (including being within 50km of a 6.7 before) - but *that* was different! I have NEVER experienced anything quite like that before... Standing on (solid?) ground and feeling like you're on the deck of a rocking boat is *interesting* - and when it seems to last forever (2-3 minutes) it gets downright surreal.