The scale of the destruction in Japan is beyond imagining, though with each passing day the enormity of what happened there becomes more evident. The terrifying images of debris-laden mountains of water rushing towards coastal towns leave me speechless.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4coi8rgULZ4
I try to picture what it would have been like to be there. What does one do to protect one’s family and one’s self from such a destructive force, even when given a few brief minutes to react?
The nuclear reactor damage has vast and sinister potential to amplify the tragedy.
I’ve got no silly poems or funny characters who are up to the task of addressing this, but felt it was important to make a space where gentle baboons could have a conversation about it.
Have you ever experienced an earthquake?
Trail Baboon 
How is this possible I’m first on here? I’m almost embarrassed to say this is the first video I’ve seen (we are sans TV); I feel almost guilty.
When living in San Francisco, I once thought I felt something looked up and saw a lampshade wobbling. My sister has a preschool in the Berkeley hills and has dealt with major earthquake prevention procedures – she also has stories to tell about the 1989 quake there.
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We had a small earthquake when we lived in southern Indiana in 1986-1987. There was a low rumble and the bookshelves started swaying for a couple of seconds, than it was over. I learned that there is a fault in Kentucky/Missouri that could cause terrible damage and loss if there was a major earthquake on it.
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Renee – you are correct. It’s called the New Madrid fault and the last time there was a large earthquake there… in the 1900s, the Mississippi River actually ran backwards!
I have programs in Hawaii and Mexico in the next couples of weeks, so I was glued to the coverage all day Friday and it’s just horrifying. I also can’t imagine having less than a minute to make some of the decisions that people have to make in these kinds of no-warning disasters.
The only natural disaster that I’ve experienced was a tornado in Missouri when I was in high school. We were doing a work camp in the bootheel and staying in the rickiest old one-story building w/ no basement. The sheriff of the county told the leaders of our group that we would be safe out in the drainage ditch along side the road than in that building. The tornado came close (what a god-awful sound) but did not take out the building (or any of us in the ditches) but it was one of the scariest things I’ve ever experienced.
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Some things are beyond words.
Want to see quakes in the last few days in the US, or the world, if you hunt on here.
http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/
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Look at that a 7.2 earthquake 2 days before the biggy didn’t even get a mention
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yes, almost unimaginable devastation. i’ve never experience an earth quake. a friend of a friend was in Alaska back when a tsunami hit there (80s?)
my brother and his wife happened to be in Bali last week and they got tsunami warnings but i guess the Indian Ocean was not affected. i had no idea the tsunami surge could travel at speeds of upwards of 400 mph. what a force to move the Pacific at that speed.
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a friend says that the Earth is unhappy with all of the strife, pollution, oil spills, and desecration going on and is showing her discontent in earthquakes, floods, storms, etc. Says She will not rest until things get better.
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I think we can add earthquake to the death and taxes list
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A geological Pat Robertson.
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The Gaia hypothesis. The earth is a living organism and is trying to rid herself of the cancer that afflicts her.
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I don’t know… the tectonic and volcanic activity during the “birth” and subsequent eons of our planet seem a lot worse than what we have now.
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I remember hearing a story about an anthropolgistnwhonwas studying an African tribe where the average life expectancy was 30ish. The study showed that the homes they lived in were mud walled huts that contained insects that bit people while they slept and the result was that they died at an early age from the bites. They had three or more choices, to use different housing material, spray with insect killer, move to a different area and what they decided was to stay and live exactly as they had for years and to continue to die at age 30.
I think earthquake awareness is a given in japan and San fransisco and the consequences are sad but certainly not unexpected.
Yellowstone is in a caldera that blows up and completely destroys the surrounding area every 500,000 years. When the ranger giving the talk to my small children was doing the presentation he said looking at the map he was holding and computing the timeline. That here is where it blew up 2 million years ago, 1 1/2 million years ago… 1 million years ago… 500,000 years ago……..do you know when the next explosion is due to happen?…………RIGHT NOW!!!!! And the kids jumped throu the roof. The planet seems to hold the same truths as the rest of life. You go along the best you can a and the risks are always there but if you focus on it it will keep you from moving forward. Pick yourself, dust yourself off and start all over again.
The earth shifts 4 inches a year over there. Think about building a country on the premise that the ground moves and earthquakes are a given. Building nuke plants and hoping it will be ok is irresponsible and bp like in it’s consequences. Figuring it out later will get you eventually. I’ll bet when the clean up is done it becomes an area of 1,000,000 people again. Give it two years.
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Thanks for posting this, Dale. Clyde is correct. It’s beyond words.
I’ve been thankful since Friday that I live here in relatively safe Minnesota. Yes, we deal with winters that last four months and get cold enough to freeze your nostrils when you breathe. Yes, we have violent storms and tornadoes and floods. But the earth doesn’t shake beneath our feet and enormous waves don’t remove our homes and families in an instant. It’s really unimaginable.
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Good morning to all:
The damage in Japan is way beyond belief. The Japanese apparently were well prepared for the quake, but there is no way they could be in good shape to handle the horrible damage from the tsunami. Relief for a disaster like this should be world wide effort. Perparation to deal with a disaster like this requires that people and nations world wide should be ready to help. We despartely need a better world where we don’t have so many man made problems that prevent us from being well prepared to handle massive natural disasters.
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I am curious how much of this land now underwater a
Was land that japan “reclaimed” similar to Netherlands
When you hear that this earthquake was caused by a shift that moved the entire main island of japan 8 feet it makes you realize the power of mother nature. It I hard to conceive of such a huge shifting the shelf japan is perched on. My guess is that anywhere they did backfilling to reclaim the land on costal areas it is needing heavy reworking, I know that is true of sanfransisco too.
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I’ve never experienced an earthquake but in a box of old family photos I have a 3×5 picture of a young boy maybe around the age of 6. We don’t know who he is but written on the back that is nailed into the sides of the frame it says saved from the 1906 earthquake in San Francisco. I’d love to solve the mystery of who he was and why my family has this photo. My family has been in MN for the past 4 generations so it’s hard to imagine the connection to this picture.
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Welcome, Laura Jean!. What an intriguing mystery.
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Laura Jean…. how intriguing. Think of all the different scenarios that could have ended w/ that picture!
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OT – just want to make sure everyone knows the B Book Club changed location, go to Blevens Book Club link at the top here and click on (2) Comments under March…
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Thanks, Dale, for giving us a chance to share. I haven’t been this horrified by images since the Twin Towers fell. Probably the only good thing is that there would have been many many more lives lost if Japan hadn’t had such an effective earthquake preparedness system in place. But like Jim said, how do you prepare for a tsunami?
We are so small… we are so small…
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Tim, I spent a good part of my life in Japan. Japan does reclaim a lot of land – creating man-made islands, but these are primarily near the large cities and industrial areas. The tsunami area, especially north of Sendai, is quite rural and made up of fishing villages and larger towns. The coast up there is rugged and pretty convoluted, so in most circumstance, they are protected from the ocean in sheltered bays and coves. The problem is that the narrow channels of these bays exacerbated the effect – elevating the water level and increasing its force. Dreadful and relentless force that drove the water deep into the towns. On Japanese television, they are already talking about the risks to build so close and the need to rebuild the towns at higher levels.
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Having spent a lot of my childhood in Japan, I got used to earthquakes – much like those who live in California, I imagine. However, one experience stands out. I was teaching a class in Yokohama in 1984 and the strangest expressions came across the faces of the students in my class. A moment later – in whispered unison – came the expression “jishin!” (earthquake!). Then I felt it – you’re more likely to feel it if you are sitting or lying down. The building we were in started to sway, and because we were on the 7th floor, it was pretty pronounced. Almost makes you feel queasy. Then the metal doors in the building started to automatically close and the earthquake was announced over the intercom. They are always scary when they are big and long-lasting.
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Thanks for the insight, Keith. I can only guess what it felt like to have a building move under you while you were on the 7th floor, and in the role of teacher you were supposed to be in command of the situation, right?
Imagine what it was like to be inside these Tokyo skyscrapers last Friday.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-xlUnl5jnIk
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Yeah. Better 7th floor than 40th, I guess! By the way, at the end of the video clip you attached, you hear the worried voice of a guy – he’s saying “geez – are those really going to stay up?” (roughly translated)
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Keith – great commentary. Thanks!
I was speaking w/ a friend who had experienced an earthquake last year in San Fran. He said the quake was pretty insignificant but that the building was one of the new “earthquake resistant” types and that it continued to sway slightly for several minutes. My friend commented that the swaying was more unnerving than the earthquake.
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I am grateful that I live in relatively quiet, stable Minnesota. As has been said above, it may be bone-aching cold, and the odd tornado, but that seems like small potatoes in comparison to earthquakes and tsunamis. My heart goes out to all who are working through the rubble and recovery from this.
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tim… I found this quote by Kurt Vonnegut. Is this the one you were thinking of? “The name of the new religion, said Rumfoord, is The Church of God the Utterly Indifferent. . . The two chief teachings of this religion are these: Puny man can do nothing at all to help or please God Almighty, and Luck is not the hand of God.” [The Sirens of Titan]
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