Big earthquake hits Japan... Syo, check in, brother!

[Katastrophe]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110311/..._earthquake_27

Syo, I hope you're all right. Check in when you can.

[stingx]

This looks absolutely devistating...



My heart goes out to them, especially those poor villagers.

[Robert****]

Oh no, that is terrible. Syo, check in!

[otaypanky***]

I hope he's ok. His profile said he was on here at 7:30 this morning.
The devastation is beyond comprehension.

[Monkus]

hope he is ok as well, last count 40 confirmed and hundreds missing. Internet is down as well.

[Tig***]

I'm hoping Syo is busy watching the coverage, comfortable in his undamaged home. I'm not sure where he lives versus the epicenter location.

This is the biggest to hit Japan in any living person's history. The same goes with the expected tsunami for the upper US coast (it could be small or huge, they don't yet know). The waves at Maui were only 8 feet, but those were wrap-arounds.

[kidsmoke*]

incomprehensible devastation. Makes Katrina look like a Thunderstorm by comparison. Look forward to hearing SYO. Prayers to everyone in Japan. No one will escape being dramatically impacted in that country.

[Tig***]

My wife and I have been saying several times over the last year that there have been more earth quakes lately than ever before. Increased frequency as well as at locations that aren't normally considered seismic zones.
Strange indeed...

[duhvoodooman***]

I suspect Syo may be w/o power and internet access for a while. Hopefully, he's A-OK....

[stingx]

Maybe...just got word from my friend that he and his family are ok.

[bcdon***]

How horrible! Syo lives down south http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Himeji so hopefully is out of range of this. What a terrible tragedy!

[bcdon***]

Maybe...just got word from my friend that he and his family are ok.

That's very good news.

[poodlesrule]

My wife and I have been saying several times over the last year that there have been more earth quakes lately than ever before. Increased frequency as well as at locations that aren't normally considered seismic zones.
.

I think I read something related to the water mass effect on the ocean floors, a new field of study.
The water mass is increasing and also shifts with odd temperature changes, which induce stresses in odd areas of the sea floor.

Anyway, thoughts to all affected, and hoping that the Japanese emergency system is up and running to care for them.

[NWBasser]

I'm hoping Syo is busy watching the coverage, comfortable in his undamaged home. I'm not sure where he lives versus the epicenter location.

This is the biggest to hit Japan in any living person's history. The same goes with the expected tsunami for the upper US coast (it could be small or huge, they don't yet know). The waves at Maui were only 8 feet, but those were wrap-arounds.

A very small, one foot, wave hit our coast. No problems here at least.

[NWBasser]

My wife and I have been saying several times over the last year that there have been more earth quakes lately than ever before. Increased frequency as well as at locations that aren't normally considered seismic zones.
Strange indeed...

The seismic activity in what are considered "stable" areas such as Arkansas may be related to injecting fluids for hydrofracking for natural gas extraction.

As a geologist, I'd like to say that the overall number of earthquakes hasn't really increased versus the last million years or so. However, it seems that big ones have increased in frequency.

Possible that a release of stress on one plate transfers stress to another one, but I'm not going to speculate too much without more information.

It could be that with modern communications, that we're just more aware of seismic events than ever before.

[Tig***]

Reuters has a fairly comprehensive photo collection. Very powerful, scary images.
Number 7 is particulary impressive.

[Spudman***]

It could be that with modern communications, that we're just more aware of seismic events than ever before.

I thought the same thing. Instant communication is something that has only been around a short while compared to the time that man has had to endure catastrophic events. Still, it's sad that so many living things are affected so tragically.

[NWBasser]

Still, it's sad that so many living things are affected so tragically.

Yeah, I agree that this is a very awful tragedy and my heart goes out to the people of Japan and those in New Zealand.

This catastrophic event will be replayed on our coast one day. The geologic setting of the WA, OR, BC, and NorCal coast is very similar to the Japan quake zone.

[FrankenFretter***]

Sending out some positive mojo to Syo and all in the affected areas. A terrible tragedy. I have friends in Japan right now that I haven't heard from for a while. I'm going to try and email them today.