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8.9 earthquake strikes near Tokyo - Tsunami alert issued

Jetboogieman said:
There's really only two words that come to mind in situations like these...

"Oh ****".

I hope for the safety of all peoples affected by this terrible disaster.
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Exactly, apparently a tsunami is about to hit the west coast?
 
Apocalypse said:
Indeed, you can see that the strong quakes in the Honshu coast of Japan go back to two days ago. They always had quakes there, but since two days ago it became way more frequent and now came the blast. Nothing says that the 8.9 quake was the strongest quake they'd get there this week.
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The 7.2 quake on 9 March actually turned out to be a foreshock of today's great quake. The area is geologically active. Fortunately, Japan is as well-prepared as any nation for dealing with quakes. Also, fortunately the epicenter was not in or around the Tokyo area.
 
donsutherland1 said:
I don't know about the BBC, but Al Jazeera and CNN are currently going in opposite directions with their news organization. Al Jazeera is aggressively adding correspondents and developing a global reach. CNN is moving in the opposite direction, relying more on others for international coverage and also "lightening" its programming (more pop culture/entertainment less hard news). If that trajectory continues, the situation in the Middle East and then in Japan will be repeated over and over again with Al Jazeera leading CNN in actual on-the-ground coverage/reporting.
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I always thought the new programming in europe was better when I lived there... I like how they discuss the politics in other countries... In America, I don't what the heck is going on...
 
donsutherland1 said:
Tragically, Japanese police have reported finding some 200-300 bodies on a beach in the vicinity of Sendai.
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I just saw where they said an entire passenger train and a boat carrying 100 people are missing.

The death toll will be in the thousands for sure.
 
Taiwan got hit by the tsunami, but by accident of geography, wasn't hit too badly. The main part of Honshu lies directly between us and the epicenter. Still, several counties declared a day off from school and work for the afternoon as a precaution.

My prayers to the people of Japan and other areas that are affected/going to be affected by this natural disaster...
 
Geez, this is so spooky. Every time I see something like this, I think of our west coast, from Alaska to Mexico, and the ticking time bomb that exists there. Can you imagine a wave like that hitting LA or San Diego? I travel to the west coast semi-frequently, too.

God help those people. I'm not sure I want to know the final total of people lost in Japan because of this.
 
dontworrybehappy said:
I just saw where they said an entire passenger train and a boat carrying 100 people are missing.

The death toll will be in the thousands for sure.
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I believe the toll will probably be in the thousands. A disturbing report: Japan's Kyodo news agency reported that about 88,000 people are missing. Some obviously have not been reached and will probably be all right. Others are probably trapped and/or missing due to the quake/tsunami. Hopefully, the overwhelming majority--ideally, all--the missing persons will be accounted for, all right, and/or rescued.
 
Temporal said:
I just don't like the sensationalism. I value the direct info, but not the "OMG" factor like Giant Noodle is going on about. People like that love the drama, but don't give two ****s who is involved.

I hope your cousin is safe.
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You know, I live in East Asia and frankly, it NEEDS to be sensationalized. I saw first hand the devestation caused by the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami. We didn't get hit badly only by accident of geography... we could have been smacked badly by this... tsunamis are VERY dangerous creatures...
 
donsutherland1 said:
I believe the toll will probably be in the thousands. A disturbing report: Japan's Kyodo news agency reported that about 88,000 people are missing. Some obviously have not been reached and will probably be all right. Others are probably trapped and/or missing due to the quake/tsunami. Hopefully, the overwhelming majority--ideally, all--the missing persons will be accounted for, all right, and/or rescued.
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Unbelievable. God help those people. :(
 
My heart goes out to the families of the dead, and the injured. The wife and I got going REAL early this morning, and heard about it in the car. Good thing too, we might not have gone out otherwise.
 
ludahai said:
Taiwan got hit by the tsunami, but by accident of geography, wasn't hit too badly. The main part of Honshu lies directly between us and the epicenter. Still, several counties declared a day off from school and work for the afternoon as a precaution.

My prayers to the people of Japan and other areas that are affected/going to be affected by this natural disaster...
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When I heard about the tsunami I was worried about you. Glad that you are ok where you are at.
 
Moderator's Warning:
This is not a religious thread. Don't even begin to try and derail it into one or you're going to get booted
 
Some positive and welcome news from the BBC:

1528: An update now on the nuclear power station in Japan at the centre of a huge evacuation order: Officials have said the reactor cooling system that failed after the quake at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant is expected to return to normal soon, according to the Jiji Press news agency. Thousands of residents were evacuated as a precaution.
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I watched some of it on the news last night, but today all I have watched is Dora the Explorer... I can only imagine how bad it is now... I hope the people were trained as well as the posters are saying. I also hope all the posters in the area are safe, and your friends and family. I know Japan has already requested international aid...

I am actually concerned for the country because it's mostly little islands, and it seems like this could rock the entire country and send it back 50 or more years...
 
SheWolf said:
I watched some of it on the news last night, but today all I have watched is Dora the Explorer...
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As an uncle of 3 kids, I can definitely see my sister telling me exactly that, you can't stop being a mom.

I think this brings up a good point. Allow kids to see what is going on in the world, but don't make it a "chicken little" moment. My sister pretty much kept the details of 9-11 from her kids which I didn't care for too much. I'll tell them straight up "some muslims that hate America killed innocent Americans and thus we went to war. That is the war that is finishing up right now."

I didn't want to derail the thread, just an interesting point. We can't stop being moms and dads because of these types of things. As my mom always told me in hard times, "You just gotta keep on keepin' on."
 
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