We haven't siwtched the TV on much since getting back from down under and as a result have missed both big and small stories equally in Japan. So when a major earthquake hit northern Japan (and our TV screens), we were somewhat oblivious. This one was a real biggy. In fact with a Richter magnitude scale of 8.0, this one was classed as a 'Great earthquake' and bigger than the one that shook our house and killed thousands back in 1995. Miraculously there have been no fatalities after this one and the main reason appears to be that it was offshore and near sparsely populated areas. The biggest concern after an offshore shake is that of tsunami and even though the wave was a trifiling 1.30m, it managed to beach more than a few boats. I was informed that we had an earthquake here in Kyoto yesterday, but I didn't feel it and I'm glad this M8.0 one was nowhere near us.
Posted by Joe at September 26, 2003 08:51 PMThis was the day we were to go fishing, and there was a map of Japan on the TV all morning with the coast of Hokkaido outlined in red and the eastern coast of Honshu outlined in yellow. I immediately thought 'tsunami warning'. Asked the wife to confirm, but she just shook her head and said she didn't know.
I figured it would be important to know about any tsunami warning if we were to get in a boat that day! (The warning area didn't extend as far as Ito, where we were.)
In the end, we didn't go fishing. But that's another tale...
Posted by: DJ at September 29, 2003 08:59 AMYes, you can pretty much guarantee that a flashing red/yellow (or some other colour) line along a section of coastline of Japan is a tsunami warning.
Posted by: Joe at September 29, 2003 10:31 AMI am at best, very wary of water and the thought of a tsunami is frankly terrifying. (Incidentally, India occaisionally sings "Tsunami" by Manic Street Preachers). Has anyone seen "Perfect Storm"? It is enough to put you off going fishing ever again!
Posted by: Honey at September 30, 2003 06:36 PM'The Perfect Storm' has come to mind many times in the past week as I've just finished 'Life of Pi' and of course the tsunami in Hokkaido. I must get the Manic Preachers' version of the geographical phenomenon.
Posted by: Joe at September 30, 2003 09:03 PM