Deaths and damage reported after strong quakes hit Japan

[BeatleBoot]

http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2004-10-23-japan-earthquake_x.htm

<snip>

TOKYO (AP) — Several powerful earthquakes shook northwestern Japan within minutes on Saturday, toppling homes, causing blackouts, cutting water and gas and derailing a bullet train. Media reported at least two people died and more than 90 were injured.
The quakes — the first of which measured magnitude 6.8 and struck at 5:56 p.m. — were centered near the city of Ojiya about 12 miles beneath the earth's surface, the Meteorological Agency said. Ojiya is 160 miles northwest of Tokyo.

The other tremors, the strongest of which hit intermittently over two hours, also included magnitude-6.2 and 5.9 quakes. Aftershocks followed, some just as forceful, the agency said.

Media reports said the shaking in some parts of Niigata was so severe that people had difficulty standing. Buildings in Tokyo swayed several times for up to a minute.

[cliss]

1. The Japanese islands

are part of the "Ring of Fire" which extends all the way down on their side of the Pacific. I read recently that they also had a volcanic eruption of Mt. ____?

Back here at home, we have our own version of the Ring of Fire. I'm about 50 miles away from Mt. St. Helens. Something's going on under the surface.

[kwyjibo]

2. Do you find that exciting?

I can't help it, but I do. Everyday we hear and talk about the impact that human beings have on each other and the earth, but it's never so powerful as Mother Nature.

[cliss]

3. ?? Are you joking?

Not when the path of the lava is my driveway. Thousands of people die each year from weather-related mishaps.

[fugue]

5. I have lots of friends in Japan and California

Earthquakes give me a cold feeling in my stomach, thank you, not excitement.

They did a study a couple decades ago of what another earthquake like the one in the early twentieth century (1910, I want to say?) hit Tokyo today. Yokohama would slide straight into Tokyo Bay, with all the millions of people that are in it. That's just for starters.

Permit me to suggest that you volunteer to help relief efforts in an earthquake or volcano zone and see if it's as "exciting" then.

[Peter1x9]

4. "The Japanese islands"

Mt. Asama


The japanese islands are the result of an interaction between several tectonic plates. Map: http://pubs.usgs.gov/publications/text/slabs.html This is the reason for all the earthquakes and volcanoes there.
This map shows the major volcanoes in Japan, there's many, many more that are not on this map:
http://vulcan.wr.usgs.gov/Volcanoes/Japan/Maps/map_japan_volcanoes.html
Lots of Information:
http://vulcan.wr.usgs.gov/Volcanoes/Japan/framework.html

The volcanoes in Washington, Oregon, and Northern California are caused by the subduction of the Juan De Fuca plate under the North American Plate.
Interactive map:
http://vulcan.wr.usgs.gov/Volcanoes/Cascades/ImageMaps/CascadeRange/cascade_range.html
Lots of information:
http://vulcan.wr.usgs.gov/Volcanoes/Cascades/framework.html