Earthquake and Tsunami in Northeast Japan

[Fortytwo]

Hawaii, Kona side of the big island

Hawaii County confirms that seven homes suffered extensive damage on Manini Beach Road near Kealakekua Bay. Power lines also were downed in the area.

RAW VIDEO: Kona tsunami – House washes away, floats in bay*|*Big Island Video News

[Fortytwo]

Kailua-Kona, Hawaii

video

Honolulu Civil Beat - VIDEO: Hawaii Tsunami Surges Hitting Big Island - Post

[Butler]

Here in the heart of L.A. Habor along the Cerritos Channel at 22200 we are still getting really strong surges, as strong as any seen during a long day that started at 1000. No boats lost but that's probably because we all learned from the Chilean Tsunami and many folks were out before hand moving boats out of the most vulnerable fingers and double checking lines and cleats particularly on the fair number of derelict boats here. We had folks out in inflatables and on the docks keeping an eye on things... helping people tie up as they were comming back from fishing trips etc.
We are starting to see damage to the larger pilings on the outside of the docks but all is holding. Lucky so far here.

Nothing compared to the devastation in Japan of course...

[zeehag]

cerritos channel has a phenomenon known as seiches(sp?)-- is wicked---compounded by tidal flows meeting in the middle of that channel behind terminal island--can get rough--glad to hear not much damage there--- we had absolutely nothing--my crew from illinois was disappointed and i had been wake from 0430, when a phone call from a friend awakened me to this situation---i kinda wanted to see something-- but, not even a ripple......

[Thermal]

All three marinas in Keehi Lagoon, Oahu destroyed. The surge just picked up the docks, concrete anchors and all, and left them in in pieces in the channel heading out to sea. Most of the boats still attached to those docks OK, others not so lucky, a few sank, but considering the condition some of those boats were in before the tsunami that's not surprising.
I found mine halfway out to sea with just the finger pier and the opposite finger pier, but with only minor damage. This had to happen while I had the engine apart for cleaning and painting to keep the rust at bay!
No damage on shore, but the harbor is a disaster, yet seems rather insignificant compared to the pictures coming out of Japan.

[Ruzanna]

Originally Posted by GordMay

YES- absolutely safer in open water than near shore (shallow water).

Dear friends. Thank you for all your feedback. I am glad to inform that between Easter and Tubuai islands ou yacht only very slightly felt the tsunami. Also, based on the info from Tubuai they have no idea about I am not aware about any tsunami))

[Pelagic]

Originally Posted by Gone2long

...
It seems to me that the biggest threat to the Japanese and to the rest of us (now that the major quake and tsunami have passed) may be Japan's nuclear "state of emergency"...

The prevailing winds are westerly in this relatively northern part of Japan (Fukushima province, Sentai township - near center of offshore quake) making any serious leak and eventual hazard for the west coast of the US, though, of course radiation levels would drop significantly by the time that they arrived.

More worrying to many of us here in Aisa, however, is that the southern section of these westerly winds seems to turn southwest about 750 miles off shore, helping to create the NE monsoon now effecting all of Southwest Asia. Wondering if anyone familiar with wind patterns off that part of Japan can comment on the potential threat to the Phillipines and other areas under the influence of the NE monsoon, in case of major radiation leaks.
.

Good question

I have looked at the next 7 day wind models for Northern Japan and it is strengthening winds to Gale force from predominately the West as the family of winter lows head across the North Pacific.

You are right, that the winds eventually circulate to NE monsoonal at lower latitudes towards the Philippines, but then again upper level winds and Jet Streams can circulate radiated air in almost every direction, so who is safe?

News reports say that the radiation dangers even in a meltdown are reasonably contained, but who knows if that is true or just a statement to avoid panic?

I am sure threat models exist, but they don't want the public to know how bad it could get in worst case scenarios

[senormechanico]

YOWZA!!

(CNN) -- The powerful earthquake that unleashed a devastating tsunami Friday appears to have moved the main island of Japan by 8 feet (2.4 meters) and shifted the Earth on its axis.
"At this point, we know that one GPS station moved (8 feet), and we have seen a map from GSI (Geospatial Information Authority) in Japan showing the pattern of shift over a large area is consistent with about that much shift of the land mass," said Kenneth Hudnut, a geophysicist with the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS).
Reports from the National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology in Italy estimated the 8.9-magnitude quake shifted the planet on its axis by nearly 4 inches (10 centimeters).


More at:

Quake moved Japan coast 8 feet; shifted Earth's axis - CNN.com

[meburma]

Wow. Amazing.

WithSailsUnfurled.com - The Adventure of a Lifetime Sent from my iPhone using Cruisers

[Butler]

Just saw a report from Catalina that 10 boats had been overturned in an unnamed harbor... haven't been able to find out which one. We were at Two Harbors the morning before the Tsunami and there were three sailboats and a couple of fishing boats on moorings but as usual Cat Harbor had quite a few boats moored. Has anybody gotten anymore specifics from Catalina?

[zeehag]

Originally Posted by Butler

Just saw a report from Catalina that 10 boats had been overturned in an unnamed harbor... haven't been able to find out which one. We were at Two Harbors the morning before the Tsunami and there were three sailboats and a couple of fishing boats on moorings but as usual Cat Harbor had quite a few boats moored. Has anybody gotten anymore specifics from Catalina?

was NOT avalon. i was advised this am . might be cat harbor--has most direct access to open pacific. friend of mine is in avalon as a resident in hte harbor-said the event was essentially a non event there.

[hummingway]

Originally Posted by senormechanico

YOWZA!!

(CNN) -- The powerful earthquake that unleashed a devastating tsunami Friday appears to have moved the main island of Japan by 8 feet (2.4 meters) and shifted the Earth on its axis.
"At this point, we know that one GPS station moved (8 feet), and we have seen a map from GSI (Geospatial Information Authority) in Japan showing the pattern of shift over a large area is consistent with about that much shift of the land mass," said Kenneth Hudnut, a geophysicist with the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS).
Reports from the National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology in Italy estimated the 8.9-magnitude quake shifted the planet on its axis by nearly 4 inches (10 centimeters).


More at:

Quake moved Japan coast 8 feet; shifted Earth's axis - CNN.com

Evidence supports a theory that there was only one continent at one time and that it will happen again and I guess this sort of thing is part of how it happens. Still comes as a shock. I wouldn't want my island moving 8 feet.

[storyinframes]

IMAGES

Half the town is missing!!! about 9000 people. and tsunami left a bulk cargo carrier right on the jetty

Lot of Images that show the scale of devastation.

Japan earthquake and tsunami: 10,000 people missing in Minamisanriku | Mail Online

[EllanVannin]

WOW - my heart jsut goes out to the people of Japan. Truely what a terrible ordeal for them. Also to any of you folk who have been caught up in the tidal surges, Kia Kaha...Stay Strong.

No reports of damage way down here, there were 3 high tides by mid afternoon in one area of our North Island that I heard of. No idea what if anything happened at the marina where our yacht is....too bloody worn out with earthquake stuff to even think about it lol! Guess we would have heard or will see if anything transpired when we go up next weekend.

Once again our thoughts and best wishes to all those affected

[Gone2long]

Pelagic,

Good to hear from you on this. I am wondering what "wind models" you are looking at. I use "Wetsand" which is essentially a surfing site, but it replicates US Navy models.

I absolutely agree that we will never know the real threats until it is probably too late to react - just as folks now stranded in Sentai are saying on NHK World (Japan, English language Cable TV).

The bottom line for me is that if we look at the wind models for 1-7 days out, we can see a that once the wind turns south, it seems to form a split into a kind of "fork" with two distinct wind directions evolving. One heads almost due west, at approximately 20 degrees latitude, toward Taiwan and mainland China. The other heads SW toward the Phillipines, then over the top of us toward Vietnam and Singapore.

What I found interesting is that today, Sunday at noon GMT + 8 (HK time) China TV (People's Republic) said they were monitoring the radiation leaked so far and figured that the winds would curl as noted above and that they would hit the PRC in approximately 60 hours. Of course, the radiation released so far has been rather minimal and the PRC say (hopefully with some degree of truth) that the radiation expected will have a "minimal" impact on China.

I figure that the PI might even have more time than that, since the SW "fork" seems to occur further at sea, perhaps taking at least another 12 hours to reach us here in the PI.

The problem is that we are now hearing is that 3 METERS OF FUEL RODS have been exposed at the Fukushima plant, which exploded its outer building on Saturday, and that all six reactors at the plant have now experienced cooling failures. There has been a partial meltdown of the #1 reactor, and, given the level of damage noted above, the heat in the reactor may be sufficient enough to completely melt down the rest of the reactor fuel causing a disaster on the scale of Chernobyl and threatening all of east and southeast Asia.

Frankly, if reactor #1 does blow, I will not wait around for the third act of this on going tragedy. I'lll be buying a ticket to Bali (preliminary reservations already made), and will take a vacation south of the equator where the surfing season is about to get under way and where, with luck, I may be able to purchase a boat that I can ride home in exactly the opposite direction of my originally intended route - that is, once the SW monsoon finally kicks and hopefully blows all that nasty stuff back to where it originated. The whole scenario would seem comical, if there were not real lives at stake.

Let's hope (for all concerned) that it doesn't come to that. :0

G2L