Powerful EQ Rocks Northern Japan More Than 230 Hurt PowerOutages Reported

[jus_the_facts]

http://aolsvc.news.aol.com/news/article.adp?id=20030925165009990008&_mpc=news%2e6

Powerful Earthquake Rocks Northern Japan
More Than 230 Hurt; Power Outages Reported

By ERIC TALMADGE, AP


TOKYO (Sept. 25) - A magnitude 8.0 earthquake rocked Japan's northern island of Hokkaido early Friday, injuring more than 230 people, knocking out power, derailing a train and touching off an industrial fire.

Flames and smoke erupt from an industrial area following the earthquake.

There were no immediate reports of deaths directly caused by the quake in the hours following the temblor that forced the evacuation of some 41,000 people and left some 16,000 homes blacked out.

The government has warned residents to avoid coastal areas due to the possibility of tsunami, or ocean waves caused by seismic activity. The meteorological agency said tsunami as high as 3 feet hit the city of Kushiro, about 510 miles north of Tokyo. There were no reports of damage.

The quake struck at 4:50 a.m., cracking roads, capsizing fishing boats and causing the roof of a local airport to partially cave in. The temblor, centered in the Pacific Ocean about 60 miles off Hokkaido's eastern shore, had a magnitude of 8, Japan's Central Meteorological Agency said.

An earthquake of that magnitude is capable of causing tremendous damage. The meteorological agency said the earthquake was centered 36 miles under the seabed.


*more*

[mddemo]

1. earthquakes

I hate earthquakes, once flew from cyprus to turkey to help with the aftermath of a EQ, was still suffering from after quakes, scared the hell outta me.

[DannyRed]

2. We were woken up

By that quake last night in Tokyo...

Here the overall energy was pretty low, but it went on and on and on and on...rattling the windows for at least 30 seconds to a minute.

[Art_from_Ark]

3. I slept through it

and I'm in the Tokyo area. However, my family were all awakened and couldn't get back to sleep.

At least this latest seismic event isn't like the 1993 Okushiri earthquake (on the other side of Hokkaido), which was literally hell on earth-- massive temblor (M8.0), followed by a huge tidal wave, fires, and aftershocks (picture shown below). More than 200 people died in that one, and that was a little sparsely-populated island.

[azrak]

4. Nature

the biggest terrorist of all

[Chovexani]

6. Wow.

Just, wow. Pictures really are worth a thousand words. That looks like a screen cap from a bad Jerry Bruckheimer movie.

Glad you and yours were safe during this one. When I saw the story on the news, I was worried about you. I remembered we have a lot of DUers over in Japan and was praying you were all ok.

[Papa]

5. Wow, I just read an article the other day predicting an 8.0 quake

Interesting, I read an article the other day about an astronomer that was prediciting a large quake for Tokyo, and that he was causing a stir in Japan.

<snip>
An astronomer in Japan is causing a stir with a prediction of an impending major earthquake in the Tokyo area. The prediction, first posted on Internet web sites, has some Japanese making preparations for an imminent disaster.

Although officials and scientists say no present technology can predict earthquakes, some Japanese are heeding the prediction made by Yoshio Kushida. The self-taught astronomer turned earthquake forecaster says he has developed a way to predict the timing and intensity of tremors by monitoring very high frequency radio waves.

<snip>

Japan's Central Meteorological Agency says it is aware of Mr. Kushida's warning but says the government has nothing to say specifically about it. Mr. Kushida - who is credited with discovering two comets - acknowledges his reputation will be damaged if no earthquake occurs, but says it is worth the risk because it is important to warn the public of a possible disaster.

<snip>


http://www.voanews.com/article.cfm?objectID=DAA73023-2EC4-4CE0-BE72B6F541471D23

[jus_the_facts]

7. I read that too......amazing isn't it....hope his work will be recognized

....and will be used more often to test the theory further! :)

[hiphopnation]

8. any deaths so far?

No deaths in an mag 8 earthquake makes me feel good as I live in a very quake prone part of the world and it's densely populated.