Earthquake in Tokyo

What a terrible news!!! I hope you all guys who live in Japan are ok.

I wonder how it will impact world champs...

OMG! I just read about it. I'm worried because this might trigger tsunamis also in other areas. And how about those in Japan right now? 8.9 is almost the highest rate. :-(

Guys! Thanks for all your concern!
I live in Tokyo, and I'm okay! The earthquake didn't strike Tokyo directly!
The center is located somewhere in the Miyagi prefecture, which is in the northern parts of the Japanese mainlands, right below Hokkaido.
The seismic intensity (the actual level of how strong the earthquake was, felt and observed by machines / this is not the same as the magnitude) near the central areas were reported to be 7.0. Influencing from this, surrounding areas up to Tokyo which is way down south from Miyagi had shakes around seismic intensity 5~ at the highest.

The first largest hit occured around 14:30~45 (JPN time) if I remember correctly, fortunately lunch hour was over by then, so not many people were cooking. This is very important for most casualties and damages come from fires resulting from earthquakes. Up until this point (17:30) I have not heard a single fire alarm or siren from a fire-truck, so at least around where I live, there seems to be nothing burning. Although, it does seem that there has been some fire incidents in and out of Tokyo, and I assume there were lots around Miyagi, but there hasn't been news reports on them yet.

Right now, it seems most of the Miyagi areas are suffering from the tsunami which occured probabaly soon after the first major shake. There has been several countless minor shakes after the first hit, and Tokyo is still shaking on and off. But most of the minor earthquakes here in Tokyo after the first major one has been below seismic intensity 3, which hardly does no damage so there's nothing much to worry for Tokyo.

Still, the country has alarmed us of tsunami's not only in Miyagi but throughout most of the country leading to the very southern areas. At this point, there seems to be no tsunami reports besides the one which happened in Miyagi. I assume that even if we had a tsunami attack in Tokyo, it would be a very small minor one. However in Miyagi, not only are the areas close to the sea flooded with water, but even the largest of ships which had been in the harbor has flipped over and are crashing into eachother and the city.

Now, I guess you guys must be worried about Mao and her family, other Japanese skaters as well. Firstly, Mao lives in Nagoya which is located to the far west of Tokyo, quite far from Miyagi. I've only read reports of a very minor seismic intensity 1 earthquake happening in the Aichi prefecture where Nagoya is located. Although the Aichi prefecture has been warned of tsunami's as well, the warning level is lower than that of Tokyo and of course Miyagi, so I'm guessing things are okay there.

The only problem is, that she might be practicing at the Shinyokohama Skating Rink which resides in the Kanagawa prefecture right below Tokyo. It's been said according to articles that she's started training there once a week after she joined Sato. The rink is located a bit close to the sea, so if a tsunami strikes the Kanagawa prefecture, they might have some damages, although I assure you that it wouldn't be anything that serious. The other possibility is that she might have been travelling towards or back from the Shinyokohama Skating Rink. In that case, she must have been on the Shinkansen line, which is more known as the 'bullet train'; an express train which travels from Tokyo to the far west via Nagoya, which used to be the fastest train on earth when it was created. In cases of a major earthquake or even minor ones, the 'bullet train' stops immediately for there is a high chance of derailment. There has been no reports of any train accidents yet, so those which travel in high speed such as the 'bullet train' must've stopped right after the first hit if the earthquake had influenced it's passages. So, even if Mao was riding on the 'bullet train' or anything of the sort, I'm sure she's okay. She may be suffering from terrible bordom though if she were riding on one of them, since those trains never start moving again until they are completely sure that the earthquake has ended, and it hasn't yet.

While I had been writing this and my last post, there had been another few earthquakes in Tokyo, which I would call minor ones, but there were about 2-3 times when the seismic intensity felt like 3~4.5. If it's that large in Tokyo, it must've been much larger in Miyagi, probabaly something around 5~7. There might've have been some new damages there.

dawnsherearequiet wrote:

Hold on, Pochinko and everyone in Japan!

Thank you dawns! But most of Japan is okay! Please don't imagine the worst!
It's only the people around Miyagi everyone should worry about!

Which reminds me that there is a city called Sendai in the Miyagi prefecture, which has a skating rink club. Shizuka started skating there, and I believe Yuzuru is a member. So the ones we should be praying for are Yuzuru and the other skaters who reside in Sendai. I guess it would've been best if they were practicing at their rink...I can't imagine anything falling down on you in a skating rink except maybe for the lights.

PochinkoPotanko wrote:

While I had been writing this and my last post, there had been another few earthquakes in Tokyo, which I would call minor ones, but there were about 2-3 times when the seismic intensity felt like 3~4.5. If it's that large in Tokyo, it must've been much larger in Miyagi, probabaly something around 5~7. There might've have been some new damages there.

Just got off the phone with my father who's currently on a business trip in Ibaraki - he mentioned that the aftershocks have been going on for over two hours now. Yikes.

The Touhoku area has been hit the hardest from what I understand. I truly hope the people there are all right. Then there's of course the tsunamis...

I thought maybe I'd better post a map of Japan, to cool everyone down. As you can see, Sendai which is located in the Miyagi prefecture is quite far from Tokyo and Nagoya. Btw, it's about 350km between Tokyo and Sendai. Yes, we are a small country, but even a major earthquake does not damage the entire country, okay?

The red lined sea shores are the areas which have been warned of major tsunami alerts. The orange lined areas had minor tsunami alerts. And the yellow lined areas only had a tsunami warning...which is like not much of anything to fear at all. It's difficlut to tell from this map, but Nagoya is a city which has a bay curved inside the mainland, so they only got an orange alert. If Mao is in Nagoya now, she is pretty safe.

Geez, it's shaking again! But I've gotten so used to it now, it hardly bothers me. The only problem is...it still might be a bit dangerous to use burners and ovens to cook...so my family may have to pass dinner tonight! There are some left overs from yesterday, so we'll manage.

Anyway, constant earthquakes are continuing, so I think most people in Japan are watching their tvs now for further news, with nothing much else to do. I'm staying online for a while, just in case somebody in our Japanese forum residing in Miyagi's house broke down, and he or she is stuck between the pillars, but miraculously by chance can access the net for some reason, and might call for help online.

you guys in japan take care, be safe, and stay alert!!! and manila folks were on tsunami alert 2 so just take care everyone!!! i'm in manila but you know, we're practically neighbors PochiP when it comes to earthquakes.

I just woke up and there are terribles images on TV. I just hope there aren't many lives lost.

According to the news the earthquake was so strong that the tsunami will propably hit our Latin American coast It won't be big, I guess, but what shocks me is the intensity of the thing, I mean, Japan is on the other side of the planet.

Thank you Pochi for your concern in explaining us all this.

PochinkoPotanko wrote:

Now, I guess you guys must be worried about Mao and her family, other Japanese skaters as well. Firstly, Mao lives in Nagoya which is located to the far west of Tokyo, quite far from Miyagi. I've only read reports of a very minor seismic intensity 1 earthquake happening in the Aichi prefecture where Nagoya is located. Although the Aichi prefecture has been warned of tsunami's as well, the warning level is lower than that of Tokyo and of course Miyagi, so I'm guessing things are okay there.

The only problem is, that she might be practicing at the Shinyokohama Skating Rink which resides in the Kanagawa prefecture right below Tokyo. It's been said according to articles that she's started training there once a week after she joined Sato. The rink is located a bit close to the sea, so if a tsunami strikes the Kanagawa prefecture, they might have some damages, although I assure you that it wouldn't be anything that serious. The other possibility is that she might have been travelling towards or back from the Shinyokohama Skating Rink. In that case, she must have been on the Shinkansen line, which is more known as the 'bullet train'; an express train which travels from Tokyo to the far west via Nagoya, which used to be the fastest train on earth when it was created. In cases of a major earthquake or even minor ones, the 'bullet train' stops immediately for there is a high chance of derailment. There has been no reports of any train accidents yet, so those which travel in high speed such as the 'bullet train' must've stopped right after the first hit if the earthquake had influenced it's passages. So, even if Mao was riding on the 'bullet train' or anything of the sort, I'm sure she's okay. She may be suffering from terrible bordom though if she were riding on one of them, since those trains never start moving again until they are completely sure that the earthquake has ended, and it hasn't yet.

While I had been writing this and my last post, there had been another few earthquakes in Tokyo, which I would call minor ones, but there were about 2-3 times when the seismic intensity felt like 3~4.5. If it's that large in Tokyo, it must've been much larger in Miyagi, probabaly something around 5~7. There might've have been some new damages there.

Thank you very much Pochi, your reports really calmed me down!
When i first listen to the news in radio, it sounded like the whole country is shattered!
Im glad, that Tokyo isnt destroyed, but many ppl died in Miyagi area Im watching the live stream they show the tsunami over and over again, its terrible!

http://www.ustream.tv/channel/fc2mh3

I feel like wanna go to Japan to help the ppl clean all the mess!
Always i wanted Japan being more in the world wide news, but i didnt want it like this!

I just wake up and turned on the tv and saw the news about the earthquake. I thought the reporter said it hit Nagoya and I went cold blooded
It seems it didn't, thanks god, but I am so sad for the people of Japan. This is so horrible
I hope everyone and their families are ok. I am praying for everyone here in the forum and in Japan

Those images of the water taking the cars with it, is so scary.

PochinkoPotanko wrote:

I thought maybe I'd better post a map of Japan, to cool everyone down. As you can see, Sendai which is located in the Miyagi prefecture is quite far from Tokyo and Nagoya. Btw, it's about 350km between Tokyo and Sendai. Yes, we are a small country, but even a major earthquake does not damage the entire country, okay?

The red lined sea shores are the areas which have been warned of major tsunami alerts. The orange lined areas had minor tsunami alerts. And the yellow lined areas only had a tsunami warning...which is like not much of anything to fear at all. It's difficlut to tell from this map, but Nagoya is a city which has a bay curved inside the mainland, so they only got an orange alert. If Mao is in Nagoya now, she is pretty safe.

Geez, it's shaking again! But I've gotten so used to it now, it hardly bothers me. The only problem is...it still might be a bit dangerous to use burners and ovens to cook...so my family may have to pass dinner tonight! There are some left overs from yesterday, so we'll manage.

Anyway, constant earthquakes are continuing, so I think most people in Japan are watching their tvs now for further news, with nothing much else to do. I'm staying online for a while, just in case somebody in our Japanese forum residing in Miyagi's house broke down, and he or she is stuck between the pillars, but miraculously by chance can access the net for some reason, and might call for help online.

U are so amazing Pochi, thanks so much!


The reporters here in the TV are so dumb, they are saying it hit the entire Japan. Thanks God it didn't.

Stay alert girl, we are praying for you!

Prayers for our bbboy Yuzuru, hope he wasn't even near the tsunami when it happened

I pray for everyone in Japan! That such bad news...

Okay, news!
Just found out that there has been 58 fires reported within the country since the earthquake. This isn't that bad considering that in the Kobe earthquake (95) magnitude7.3, the whole city was in flames a few hours later.

Our weather station has confirmed that the magnitude of today's earthquake was 8.8!!!!!
This is supposedly the largest earthquake we've ever had since they started observing it seems...btw, magnitude is based on how far the earthquake had extended, and not how hard it shook. It seems that not only our 'bullet train', but most railways have been stopped just in case. All the tv channels are reporting the earthquake, no anime for the kids tonight.

I imagine many foreigners living or visiting Japan, who've experienced an earthquake for the first time must be pretty freaked out. I've heard many stories about foreigners experiencing earthquakes for the first time...they seem shocked to see us acting like it's nothing when the seismic intensity is from 1~4. Well, I guess most of you can't imagine how exactly much it shakes, so I'll try to describe it:

seismic intensity 1: only very sensitive people realize it's shaking, and even if they do, they'd usually think it's just them; like they have a hang-over or something.

seismic intensity 2: only very sensitive people realize this too, but when they do, they know it's an earthquake and they're not just imagining the shake. Some very very cautious people might bother to turn off their stoves.

seismic intensity 3: at this point, most people notice it unless they're riding on some vehicle (when your moving in a car or train, it's still hardly noticable). Clever people will check their kitchens to see if nothings burning, plus they will avoid standing close to large furniture which might fall down on them.

seismic intensity 4: things start falling off shelves so nobody will miss this hard a shake. People will check whether all appliances which might cause fires are off, and start opening doors. The reason we open doors in case of a fairly large earthquake is because sometimes doors get stuck from the shake, and we won't be able to escape the house in case of fires. Most people will turn on their tvs to see where the center of the earthquake is, and check the seismic intensity.

seismic intensity 5: all dirty closets will start collapsing. Although many households have earthquake proof cabinets, glass cups and plates will start shattering a little inside. It'll still be possible to walk, but usually even us Japanese start panicking a bit at this point, so it's very important to keep calm.

seismic intensity 6: I've never experienced this in my lifetime so far, but from what I've heard, it seems it's almost impossible to do anything at this point. The shaking will be so furious, you can't even go to the kitchen to turn off the oven. So this is how the fire starts, and all hell is cut loose.

seismic intensity 7: So, if 6 is like that, I imagine at 7, old poorly constructed buildings start collapsing, as well as utility poles and even sometimes highways. http://mainichi.jp/select/jiken/graph/hansindaisinsai/3.html

I just got a phone call from one of our mods in the Japanese forum. She called from Sendai, Miyagi. It seems she lives there and told me we won't be able to get in touch with her for a while and asked me to mail a few people to pass the message. She was quite shook up, and cried a bit while she was on the phone. But it was a pay phone, which tells us that all personal phonelines are dead and cell phones are all busy. There must've been dozens of people in line back of her waiting to use the pay phone so I was only able to talk to her for a short time. She said she and her family are okay, but mentally not okay. I think everyone in Sendai is still in a state of shock, and since even at this point we're still having short shakes from time to time in Tokyo, Sendai must be suffering shakes at the same time with larger seismic intensity. I hope her house or apartment or which ever household she lives in survived the first big shake...I thought since Sendai isn't in flames like Kobe was, at least not now, the damages might've been lighter, but hearing my friend all shook up on the phone made me think that maybe we haven't seen the worst yet. Most of the roads are probabaly closed, or destroyed so camera crews for the media haven't sent us all the images of the actual damage happeneing there.

I'm getting depressed. And hungry...we can't use gas still, so I'm going to go buy something to eat. I feel so guilty about doing so, cause the people in Sendai must've had nothing to eat since the first hit and it's been close to 7 hours since then...

PochinkoPotanko wrote:

I just got a phone call from one of our mods in the Japanese forum. She called from Sendai, Miyagi. It seems she lives there and told me we won't be able to get in touch with her for a while and asked me to mail a few people to pass the message. She was quite shook up, and cried a bit while she was on the phone. But it was a pay phone, which tells us that all personal phonelines are dead and cell phones are all busy. There must've been dozens of people in line back of her waiting to use the pay phone so I was only able to talk to her for a short time. She said she and her family are okay, but mentally not okay. I think everyone in Sendai is still in a state of shock, and since even at this point we're still having short shakes from time to time in Tokyo, Sendai must be suffering shakes at the same time with larger seismic intensity. I hope her house or apartment or which ever household she lives in survived the first big shake...I thought since Sendai isn't in flames like Kobe was, at least not now, the damages might've been lighter, but hearing my friend all shook up on the phone made me think that maybe we haven't seen the worst yet. Most of the roads are probabaly closed, or destroyed so camera crews for the media haven't sent us all the images of the actual damage happeneing there.

I'm getting depressed. And hungry...we can't use gas still, so I'm going to go buy something to eat. I feel so guilty about doing so, cause the people in Sendai must've had nothing to eat since the first hit and it's been close to 7 hours since then...

Pochi, I hope the mod is ok. I don't know which member is but I am praying and I am so sad for her

Thank you very much for the explainations!
Its really something different to hear it from someone in Japan instead of some book!

And i wish i could give you some food to help you!

Quote :

All the tv channels are reporting the earthquake, no anime for the kids tonight.

They should show some anime, to let the kids think of something good during this rough time

I hope everyone is safe. Thank you PochinkoPotanko for telling me,

I just saw the news. My prayers goes out to everyone in Japan.

I'm so glad you're okay Pochi, and thank you for sharing news with us.

Thank you for the news, PochinkoPotanko. From all the images and videos popping up all over the internet I thought for a horrible moment that all of Japan was in huge trouble. Glad to hear it's not as bad as I thought. I pray for all the families affected by this!

I just heard about it. Thank you Pochi for explaining everything! I was so worried about you! Glad you're fine! I hope it won't effect other people in the future. I have a fear that Worlds can be cancelled, is there a chance of that happening?

I wish it won't effect other countries, Russia has a possibility of tsunami too.

News reporting that 200-300 bodies discovered on the shore right now.... Oh my God... My prayers for all people in Japan! I hope there won't be more victims, it's so terrible.

Dani-Chan wrote:

Pochi, I hope the mod is ok. I don't know which member is but I am praying and I am so sad for her

Thanks Dani-Chan and everybody here who are concerned for the people in my country.

I just came home from shopping in a convenience shop nearby, and....to my surprise, most of the food there were all sold out! There were so many people shopping there too. It's just a small Lawson shop in the neighbourhood, but it's quite packed with people and the shop owner was panicking. Well, I guess everyone got hungry. My father says the gas has been stopped so we can't cook anything. I'm not sure if the whole gas system has been stopped in Tokyo, or whether some safety device activated because of the earthquake.
Anyway, I guess even if we're 350km away from the earthquake's center, we are still in some sort of danger since we're still having shakes from time to time, hence we are not allowed to cook. I'm sure my neigborhood's Lawson shop made the sales of their lifetime today. All their packed lunches (we call them BENTO) were sold out, all the sandwiches were sold out, anything with bread or rice was actually sold out. So I guess nobody is able to cook right now, at least around where I live! I've never experienced anything like this before. It kind of feels like the end of the world or something...but then there was this lady walking her beagle...so much for the panic movie atomosphere.

After I came home, I watched tv for a while and found out that...as you all probabaly know, most of the damage was caused by the tsunami which followed the earthquake. Houses and buildings being washed away by sea water. It seems tsunami has hit the Fukushima prefecture, which is right about in between the middle of Tokyo and Miyagi. Even there, there are already casualties; people swept by the tsunami and some homes for old people collapsed and some were unfortunately there when it happened.

I've always been told by my parents and by school teachers that the most scariest thing when an earthquake occurs is fire. All kids are taught to check if all appliances which might cause a fire are off in case of an earthquake, and that's the most important thing to do. And as if to prove that was all true, the Kobe earthquake in 95, had many casualties which added up to over 6000 people not only because of households, buildings and highways collapsing but because of fire starting almost everywhere in the city. And that one was a magnitude 7.3, whereas this one we had today is 8.8. So, in anycase, the people in the Miyagi prefecture must've done pretty well to avoid fires starting, and since after Kobe, many of our highways were strengthened to survive at least the same level of earthquakes, it seems no highways have been destroyed so far. Also note that although not as large as the Kobe earthquake, Miyagi prefecture has suffered fairly large earthquakes in the past. Therefore, I'm sure that the city had been taking precautions against earthquakes upon building stuff more than other areas, and the people there probabaly reacted quicker than most people would.

This time the problem was water. If only the tsunami didn't happen, I think most of the Miyagi prefecture would have made it through the earthquake itself with very low casualties compared to other major earthquakes. This is an area where people knew what an earthquake can do, and they had always been preparing themselves for it. It seems that the tsunami which attacked Miyagi was over 10 meters high when it reached the shores. I think that maybe the exact center of the earthquake was somewhere in the ocean. I don't quite know how tsunamis happen in relavance to earthquakes, but they usually occur when the center of an earthquake is in the sea.

It's now 22:35, just about 8 hours since the first major quake. Tokyo is still shaking every once in a while. The shakes are becoming short and weak, little by little so I'd like to think the earth is finally calming down. Btw, all phone lines are dead even here in Tokyo it seems. I suppose it's not totally dead since I got a call from my husband at work and my friend in Sendai, but my cell has been out of range since a few hours ago, and my home phone keeps on saying 'the lines are extremely busy right now...blah blah', whoever I try calling. Most of the main railways even in Tokyo has stopped. Alot of people won't be able to get home today. This kind of thing never happened before because of an earthquake so far away.

Which reminds me...I'm afraid that maybe they won't be able to have Worlds in Tokyo this month!

I don't think the earthquake will continue up till next week, of course. But magnitude8.8 is a record breaking large earthquake which spread out in the north and east of Japan. Since there are damages not only in Miyagi but in most of northeast Japan, they'll be needing alot of manpower to fix things. Our 'army' (not supposed to be an army but just a bunch of guys trained to protect the country cause our constitution prohibits war of any kind ) does most of the job in such cases, but I assume that a large number of firemen, rescue-squad people, doctors, policemen, etc. will be sent from various areas in the country to Miyagi and other heavily damaged cities. So, Tokyo might not have the usual security it has.

Plus, if there are casualties amongst people in figure skating, it's likely we may have some since Miyagi is one of the few cities which has some of our high ranked figure skaters; Yuzuru, Mari Suzuki...I can't be sure if this earthquake won't have any influence on Tokyo Worlds this month. I hope the skaters in Miyagi are okay, and their families too. But even if they're okay, if their houses have been destroyed or something, they're not going to be able to skate for a while...

Damn it! It's shaking pretty strong again! When is this going to stop?

PochinkoPotanko wrote:

Damn it! It's shaking pretty strong again! When is this going to stop?

Hold on Pochi!!!! We're with you!

PochinkoPotanko wrote:

I just got a phone call from one of our mods in the Japanese forum. She called from Sendai, Miyagi. It seems she lives there and told me we won't be able to get in touch with her for a while and asked me to mail a few people to pass the message. She was quite shook up, and cried a bit while she was on the phone. But it was a pay phone, which tells us that all personal phonelines are dead and cell phones are all busy. There must've been dozens of people in line back of her waiting to use the pay phone so I was only able to talk to her for a short time. She said she and her family are okay, but mentally not okay. I think everyone in Sendai is still in a state of shock, and since even at this point we're still having short shakes from time to time in Tokyo, Sendai must be suffering shakes at the same time with larger seismic intensity. I hope her house or apartment or which ever household she lives in survived the first big shake...I thought since Sendai isn't in flames like Kobe was, at least not now, the damages might've been lighter, but hearing my friend all shook up on the phone made me think that maybe we haven't seen the worst yet. Most of the roads are probabaly closed, or destroyed so camera crews for the media haven't sent us all the images of the actual damage happeneing there.

I'm getting depressed. And hungry...we can't use gas still, so I'm going to go buy something to eat. I feel so guilty about doing so, cause the people in Sendai must've had nothing to eat since the first hit and it's been close to 7 hours since then...

Thanks for relaying the message Pochi! Stay safe, and I do hope the rest of our members located in Japan are all right in addition to the millions already affected by the quake.

I just received a second call from my father regarding how things are going over at north Ibaraki, which was another area quite close to the epicenter of the initial quake (from what I understand, the seismic intensity over there was a 6). The roof and entire fourth floor of the ryokan (inn) he and his colleagues were staying at collapsed and crashed down. Miraculously no one were killed including the few who were on the fourth floor - just a few bruises here and there. Everyone in the inn were evacuated in time before the first aftershock which struck roughly 15 minutes later.

Like Miyagi, the personal and cellular landlines are dead and there's a mass blackout in the area. My father's a positive person and he joked about how he was able to grab sandwiches and pudding from the nearby convenience store in addition to how the pay phone was free of charge due to the state of emergency...but yeah, I do hope the worst have passed and the casualty/missing toll will not go any higher. If I'm not mistaken the aftershocks are still taking place (USGS recorded over 50 since the first quake which occurred more than eight hours ago) which is just terrifying. I've experienced a couple of seismic intensity 5 earthquakes back when I was still in Tokyo but never in succession and most definitely not with aftershocks that are going on for hours.

Pochi mentioning tsunamis reminded me of another thing - the Philippines and Guam (in addition to numerous other areas) issued alerts as well. I'm really hoping the resulting tsunamis won't result in further devastation.

I woke up an hour ago and i watched the terrible news on TV I'm really sad about people in Miyagi prefecture.

Thanks Pochinko for the explanation, the first thing that i thought when i saw the news was if Mao and all the members of the forum in Japan were safe, thanks your explanation, i'm calmer now.

I hope, from the button of my heart, that Japan stop shaking very soon, and that all of you guys and your family are safe. I'm praying for Japan, you are a wonderful country that i really admire, so my best wishes to all of you