Quake!
March 25, 2007
This morning at 9:42am there was a pretty strong earthquake off the coast of Ishikawa prefecture, north side of central Japan. It measured a 6+ on the Japanese rating system and a 7.1 on the Richter.
Here in Osaka, I had just woken up and was in bed when I felt my building sway a bit, then increase in frequency, and then subside gently. It lasted 10 seconds or so here. My biggest fear here was my new computer getting destroyed by falling things or my bookshelf toppling and crushing my wife (in that particular order).
Ishikawa and Osaka prefecture highlighted. The green X is the epicenter.
I got up and turned on the TV to see where it was. Sure enough, a tsunami warning had already been issued and they expected a 50cm wave at 9:50am. It’s amazing how fast they were able to send out a warning so fast compared to the big wave in Thailand a couple years ago.
March 25th, 2007 at 12:34
The damage reports are coming in now from the quake. At present, one death and many injuries. The news also has video footage of many busted up roads and houses that basically collapsed. Some big rocks have also slid down from hills onto “National Highway 249″.
This is Jerry reporting from my living room in Osaka.
March 28th, 2007 at 15:41
Glad to hear you are OK, and more importantly your new computer and your not as new wife. Now I must ask… did they really send out a tsunami warning for a 50 cm wave? Is a half-metre tall wave really such a concern?
March 28th, 2007 at 17:27
You’d think a half-meter wave isn’t a big deal but it spans a long stretch of land and the volume of water that traverses carries a lot of energy. The height determines how far in does the water travel, I think. Luckily most of the coastlines are well fortified against tsunamis with many wave-breaking walls and obstacles. One one hand it prevents a lot of tsunami damage, on the other, you have really bad eyesores at the beach though.