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Post by Retrovision on Mar 10, 2011 23:12:45 GMT -8
On the nautical end of this story, there are reports of ships washng inland. Spectacular live aerial pictures as I type on CNN, etc., of these waves washing ashore like walls of water.
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Post by Coastal Drought on Mar 11, 2011 0:18:58 GMT -8
It has since been upgraded to a 9.1 magnitude.
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Post by Retrovision on Mar 11, 2011 0:35:31 GMT -8
Unreal images of large ships swept onto land at (I think) Sendai in Miagi Prefecture near the epicentre are now coming in (some 300 Km notheast of Tokyo which actually got hit by a 6-some-odd aftershock more directly apparently).
The farthest east across the Pacific that there is a tsunami watch (not the more severe warning status) so far is Hawaii (just now there are reports coming in of the tsunami alarms being sounded there). For our coastlines both of the Pacific Southwest of Canada and Pacific Northwest of the U.S. there are only predictions (this according to CTV BC's meterologist) of heavier swells and possibly heavier surf than normal coming at approximately 0700 PST.
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Post by Retrovision on Mar 11, 2011 0:53:52 GMT -8
The warning, watch, etc., status can be confusing depending on who you go by, but this is straight from the horse's mouth: Look for updates from this page every 30 minutes here: wcatwc.arh.noaa.gov/ |
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Post by Coastal Drought on Mar 11, 2011 1:31:57 GMT -8
Tsunami advisory in effect for the West coast of Vancouver Island. Information to keep in mind: A Tsunami Advisory means that a tsunami capable of producing strong currents or waves dangerous to persons in or very near the water is expected. Significant, widespread inundation is NOT expected for areas under an advisory.
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Post by Retrovision on Mar 11, 2011 2:59:10 GMT -8
As late (or early, if you will) as it now is, I feel compelled to send along a recent notice by NOAA:
Tsunami notifications of any sort should always be taken seriously
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Post by Retrovision on Mar 11, 2011 3:58:54 GMT -8
btw, when it comes to the power of social media, Twitter hit a record reported new threshold of 1200 posts per minute during the first hour out of Tokyo alone presumably due to this disaster. This according to our Canadian Broadcasting Company.
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Post by BreannaF on Mar 11, 2011 8:04:50 GMT -8
They say that all news is local.
As horrible as the images are of places in Japan being devastated by an earthquake and then by a tsunami, as much as you feel for the people who lived through that, it is almost hard to comprehend from afar just how much damage has been done.
That being said, I am glued to the television this morning, waiting for a possible tsunami to hit an area of the Oregon Coast where I once lived for a couple of years. I lived in Astoria and worked in Seaside for a while, so it is very interesting watching the pictures of evacuated people waiting for an event near a beach that I once walked along all the time.
Nothing that could happen here would match what happened there last night. But it is still hard to watch the pictures of the beach here.
I'm hoping that this becomes a non-event here. (And, people, GET off the BEACH!!!!)
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Post by Northern Exploration on Mar 11, 2011 9:46:05 GMT -8
The images of the earthquake and tsunami are quite mind boggling. And fortunately the wave didn't reach the coasts of NA. Checking on Gleneden Beach in OR it seems like a normal type of storm surge. Tofino and Long Beach cleared the beaches and closed Pacific Rim Park and the wave frequency was higher but it also looked like a normal windy day otherwise. Hopefully the images of Japan will be in peoples minds and not another Tsunami warning that didn't pan out.
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D'Elete BC in NJ
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Dispensing gallons of useless information daily...
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Post by D'Elete BC in NJ on Mar 11, 2011 10:53:43 GMT -8
This hit pretty close to home for me. A friend's wife and kids touched down in Tokyo an hour before the earthquake. It's been a very tense day for him, but he's finally connected with his mother-in-law and it appears everyone is okay, though his wife and kids still haven't been able to reach her parents, and my friend hasn't been able to contact them directly.
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Post by Balfour on Mar 11, 2011 13:23:15 GMT -8
My younger step brother was destined for Japan on a school trip. He was in the air when the quake occurred so his flight got diverted elsewhere. It's too bad because he was really looking forward to this trip...
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Post by Retrovision on Mar 11, 2011 15:21:28 GMT -8
My younger step brother was destined for Japan on a school trip. He was in the air when the quake occurred so his flight got diverted elsewhere. It's too bad because he was really looking forward to this trip... Small world, Coastal Skier, I'd guess that your step brother's flight is the one that is being mentioned in the news ("full of students" as the line in the media went) that was diverted to Sapporo. - Interesting, just now on the television program Power & Politics with Evan Soloman on our CBC News Network Rob Russo of The Canadian Press said that once when he had a chance to sit down with our former Prime Minister Paul Martin he asked him what keeps you up at night. In response Prime Minister Martin had a number one and a number two. The second was "an earthquake in the lower mainland of British Columbia". I'd suggest that we personally use this as a wakeup call and prepare ourselves as the Japanese have done for such an inevitable event. - Late Breaking News: A second failure of a nuclear power plant cooling system is being reported in Japan. |
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Post by Retrovision on Mar 11, 2011 16:03:11 GMT -8
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Post by Scott on Mar 11, 2011 20:06:09 GMT -8
Just saw some footage on CNN.com of a K-class type ferry sitting on dry land in Japan.
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Post by Balfour on Mar 11, 2011 21:51:00 GMT -8
My younger step brother was destined for Japan on a school trip. He was in the air when the quake occurred so his flight got diverted elsewhere. It's too bad because he was really looking forward to this trip... Small world, Coastal Skier, I'd guess that your step brother's flight is the one that is being mentioned in the news ("full of students" as the line in the media went) that was diverted to Sapporo. Yup he was on that flight. They're staying in Sapporo tonight and returning home to North Van as soon as possible... |
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Post by Barnacle on Mar 12, 2011 8:05:27 GMT -8
As expected, the tsunami only had minimal effects here... but I can tell you that the tidal current predictions weren't terribly useful yesterday. I got taken by surprise while docking the boat a time or two--the current was going strongly in the opposite direction of the prediction...
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Neil
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Posts: 7,177
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Post by Neil on Mar 12, 2011 10:24:03 GMT -8
Our local media, Global TV in particular, was covering the story in the manner you would expect them to cover it. Ten minutes into their 6:00 news yesterday, they had Mike Farnworth trying to score political points by criticizing provincial earthquake preparedness, and later on they had their resident corporate shill Michael Levi sounding quite enthusiastic about all the money BC was going to make selling the Japanese materials needed to rebuild. No matter how many people have just died somewhere else in the world, it's got to be about us, somehow, or the story isn't really complete.
Made me thankful that I can watch the BBC whenever I want.
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Post by Northern Exploration on Mar 12, 2011 10:51:18 GMT -8
Japan is recognized as one of the most disaster prepared areas of the world and yet the loss of life is already sobering and the full count is no where nearly known yet.
Vancouver isn't nearly as well prepared. However, one outcome of hosting the Olympics for the city has been a much improved level of disaster preparedness. Of course someone will say that it wasn't necessary to host the games to be better prepared. In a perfect world yes, but politics and human self interest means Vancouver would not nearly be where it is today. The games forced activity that would have been hard to match. To a lesser degree the PanAm games in Toronto is also uping the levels of cooperation and preparedness in Toronto that is also near a fault but that is much less volatile than the Pacific ring.
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Post by Scott on Mar 12, 2011 16:02:52 GMT -8
It seems that the majority of the damage in Japan was due to the tsunami. I don't think we would see nearly the same level of damage from a tsunami in British Columbia. The communities on the west coast would be at greatest risk, however, they are few and far between, and quite small. Also the coastline is relatively steep, unlike Japan's where it seems a 30 foot wave could go inland for almost 10 kilometers. A tsunami in Georgia Straight would likely be quite minor, unless there was some type of underwater landslide. Landslides into lakes have caused destructive waves on the coast before as well. Most damage in an earthquake in BC would probably be from shaking and liquifaction. Like Northern Exploration said, I don't think our infrastructure or buildings are as well prepared as Japan's for a major amount of shaking.
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Post by EGfleet on Mar 12, 2011 17:05:07 GMT -8
It seems that the majority of the damage in Japan was due to the tsunami. I don't think we would see nearly the same level of damage from a tsunami in British Columbia. The communities on the west coast would be at greatest risk, however, they are few and far between, and quite small. Also the coastline is relatively steep, unlike Japan's where it seems a 30 foot wave could go inland for almost 10 kilometers. A tsunami in Georgia Straight would likely be quite minor, unless there was some type of underwater landslide. Landslides into lakes have caused destructive waves on the coast before as well. Most damage in an earthquake in BC would probably be from shaking and liquifaction. Like Northern Exploration said, I don't think our infrastructure or buildings are as well prepared as Japan's for a major amount of shaking. Interesting link on this subject here: atlas.nrcan.gc.ca/auth/english/maps/environment/naturalhazards/tsunami/tsunami/1Here's a snippet about the damage from the tsunami spawned by the Alaska quake in '64. Port Alberni, British Columbia, March 28, 1964
On March 27, 1964, the magnitude 9.2 Alaska earthquake, the second largest earthquake reported at the time, triggered a tsunami that travelled to areas along the Pacific Northwest, Japan, Hawaii and Australia. In Canada, waves struck portions of the Queen Charlotte Islands and Vancouver Island. The worst hit area was Port Alberni, where the tsunami caused about $5 million in damage (1964 dollars; $25 million in 2006 dollars). The community was struck by three main waves (see Figure 3) between 00:20 and 3:30 (Pacific Standard Time) on March 28. No one was killed in Canada, but 130 people lost their lives elsewhere across the Pacific Ocean. |
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Post by Scott on Mar 12, 2011 17:48:04 GMT -8
Interesting link on this subject here: atlas.nrcan.gc.ca/auth/english/maps/environment/naturalhazards/tsunami/tsunami/1Here's a snippet about the damage from the tsunami spawned by the Alaska quake in '64. Port Alberni, British Columbia, March 28, 1964
On March 27, 1964, the magnitude 9.2 Alaska earthquake, the second largest earthquake reported at the time, triggered a tsunami that travelled to areas along the Pacific Northwest, Japan, Hawaii and Australia. In Canada, waves struck portions of the Queen Charlotte Islands and Vancouver Island. The worst hit area was Port Alberni, where the tsunami caused about $5 million in damage (1964 dollars; $25 million in 2006 dollars). The community was struck by three main waves (see Figure 3) between 00:20 and 3:30 (Pacific Standard Time) on March 28. No one was killed in Canada, but 130 people lost their lives elsewhere across the Pacific Ocean. That link also has an interesting summary of the "highest tsunami ever recorded" in Alaska. Its height was well over 500 meters, however it was largely contained within a fjord and was caused by the combination of an earthquake, landslide, and glacier breakoff. The following pdf has an interesting account of the 1946 earthquake near Courtenay on the Forbidden Plateau. That earthquake measured 7.3. It was felt from Oregon to Prince Rupert but the most serious damage was caused in Comox, Port Alberni, and Powell River. www.essa.ca/resources/CVESS-Newsletter---Winter-2010.pdfThe article lists several consequences of the earthquake on Vancouver Island including a 30 foot tsunami/wave on Comox Lake, a major landslide into Landslide Lake in Strathcona Park which caused a 10km long debris flow down Elk River, numerous rockfalls, damage to highways, a 7 foot tsunami hitting Texada Island, a 15 foot wave at Deep Bay (Vancouver Island across from Denman Island), underwater cable damage, and the runway at YVR developed cracks. |
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Post by Scott on Mar 13, 2011 17:39:04 GMT -8
Just saw some footage on CNN.com of a K-class type ferry sitting on dry land in Japan.  I finally found this footage again and captured a screen shot of the ferry I saw before. I've tried to find where such a ferry would operate, but I can't, especially with most websites being in Japanese. I'm also not sure what town this is, where the ferry is washed up. |
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Post by lmtengs on Mar 13, 2011 18:58:00 GMT -8
After about 20 minutes of searching, I too couldn't find anything about the ferryboat. One thing I can say though is that those Japanese sure build nice looking ferries!
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Kam
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Posts: 926
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Post by Kam on Mar 13, 2011 22:10:05 GMT -8
Besides the horrible loss of life and property, their must be hundreds of ships over 50 feet that will have to be cut up for scrap... many of them have been left high an dry miles inland with no way back...
I've seen images of some very large ships that appear to be virtually undamaged but washed so far ashore they will never see water again :-(
Also have seen some video of a few fishing boats trying to push over the incoming waves... not sure if they made it but could clearly see a big puff of black exhaust as the skippers gave her everything she had to try and make it over the top....
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Post by Name Omitted on Mar 14, 2011 17:22:15 GMT -8
That link also has an interesting summary of the "highest tsunami ever recorded" in Alaska. Its height was well over 500 meters, however it was largely contained within a fjord and was caused by the combination of an earthquake, landslide, and glacier breakoff. Lituya Bay, 1953, a 524 m wave, or just about 30 meters shy of the CN Tower's height. The real crazy thing is that there is local speculation, based on the elevation of the really old trees in Lituya bay, that there may have been an even bigger wave around 250 years ago. |
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