Japan Earthquake & Tsunami News

March 11 quake was 20x longer and 1,450 x larger than one that destroyed Kobe

The below image was captured from an excellent English-language NHK documentary that provides a wealth of information on the history of tsunamis in northeastern Japan and demonstrates how this was a once-in-a-millennium disaster of gargantuan proportions. The pic shows two seismic waves. The bottom one represents the destructive earthquake that hit Kobe in the mid 90's and killed around 6,000 people. It was a 7 magnitude quake that lasted 15 seconds. Compare that to the one above which was recorded during Friday's quake, which lasted a whopping FIVE MINUTES and threw off much larger amplitude waves (click to see a larger version).

Here is a 15-minute segment from the aforementioned documentary that I found on YouTube. It's well worth watching.

 

Quake's slow build

This footage shows how the initial tremors continued for a good 90 seconds or so before the real shaking began. It appears to have been shot in the Nakano-ku area of Tokyo.

 

Another earthquake vid shot inside a typical Japanese home

 

The submitter of this YouTube video was at home in the Hokuseibu area of Chiba prefecture, which adjoins Tokyo. Though more than 200 miles from the epicenter, this house got a very good shaking indeed. 

And in the supermarket. . .

No explanation necessary on this one. . .

 

What it's like in a typical Japanese home during a big quake

This YouTube vid shows how much shaking one family in Ibaraki Prefecture (between Tokyo and the harder hit northern areas) encountered. Note how the kids have ducked under furniture. The father is telling everybody "Don't worry. It's fine. It's okay." He then proceeds through the house to check on damages, all the while muttering to himself "That was scary. That was scary." Toward the end, we hear him shout "Aftershock! Aftershock! Get back under the table."