Japan 8.8 Earthquake

[PeteC]

The Mods can move this later to Current Affairs but I wanted to get maximum visibility now. Turn on your TV's if not already. The Tsunamis are already hitting the shores. This is a monstrous event. Pete

[pharvey]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-12709598

[PeteC]

CNN is off the air due to some satellite problems but BBC is currently broadcasting film of tsunamis coming ashore live as I speak. Pete

[buksida]

Just had some live footage on CNN - unbelievable stuff ... looks like a movie set ...

[PeteC]

The tsunami alert now stretches to Russia, Taiwan, Wake Island, Philippines, Guam and all the way to Hawaii. Pete

[PeteC]

Indonesia and even Australia is are now under a tsunami warning. A tsunami is expected to hit the western shores of Hawaii around 0230 hours their time, about 5 1/2 hours from now.

It's been reported that the quake was felt as far away as Beijing and it ranks as #7 on the all time magnitude list. Pete

EDIT: They announced that the quake has been upgraded to an 8.9. For reference, the 2004 Boxing Day Indonesian quake was 9.1

[STEVE G]

I've just been watching footage of the Tsunami wave on the BBC and it seems to be doing a terrible amount of damage, literally sweeping whole communities away.

[Spitfire]

Yeah, the footage from the helicopter of it coming in across those fields and washing away the greenhouses and all else on the open areas with cars driving down the highway away from it, are unbelievable.

[PeteC]

The warnings and alerts now go all the way from Alaska to the southern tip of South America, and inclusive of the entire northern and southern Pacific Ocean. Pete

[STEVE G]

This video shows the power of the Tsunami hitting Japan:

[Takiap]

Just heard it's meant to reach here at about 5 in the morning?

[migrant]

They are issuing warnings here in southern California (watching it on TV as I write).

The waves are supposed to hit hear tomorrow around 7:20am. They are closing some beaches in Orange county as a precaution.

They are also broadcasting to the surfers here that they can't surf a tsunami, there is no head to it!!

[Spitfire]

This is going to be messy, for sure, just watched the latest on the BBC and they are saying a passenger train is missing, 300 bodies washed up already on a couple of beaches etc. The footage you are seeing of cars bobbing around and houses etc being carried along by the wave etc all means that basically that there are going to be thousands of people caught up in this and we all now that "missing" will mean dead after a day or so.

Oceanographers speculate that the quake was about 80 km of the coast and 15 km deep or something, wave travels at approx 500 miles an hour (same as a 747), so they are saying that it would take about 10 minutes to get to the coast of Japan, which all means no warning.

There will be many that would have had no chance and the casualty numbers will just rise very quickly.

[migrant]

They are issuing warnings here in southern California (watching it on TV as I write).

The waves are supposed to hit hear tomorrow around 7:20am. They are closing some beaches in Orange county as a precaution.

They are also broadcasting to the surfers here that they can't surf a tsunami, there is no head to it!!

Actually it's this morning the waves are to hit here.

I was watching pictures of Hawaii where the waves were starting.

Amazing technology, they can predict the arrival within minutes

[BaaBaa.]

Pics from The New York Times HERE