Earth ChangesS


Bizarro Earth

Geophysicists Worry Quake is Not The Last

The unusually high number of aftershocks following Japan's strongest ever earthquake last Friday has caused concern among geophysicists that it may actually be a chain of separate quakes.

Ring of Fire
© POSTgraphics
Michio Hashizume, a Japanese geology expert working with Chulalongkorn University's Faculty of Science, said his contemporaries in Japan are wondering if the string of tremors felt around the county since Friday's 9.0-magnitude are actually aftershocks.

"We are questioning if they are really aftershocks, because in theory they should happen close to the epicentre, but this time, [some of] the [following] earthquakes have happened far from the epicentre," Mr Hashizume said.

"We are thinking the 9.0 earthquake may have triggered a chain of earthquakes. If so, we expect more earthquakes, possibly as strong as magnitude 7, within the next three days."

The geologists are concerned about the possibility of another big earthquake soon, which could create another tsunami, he said.

Bizarro Earth

Volcano in southern Japan resumes eruptions

Tokyo -- The weather agency says a volcano in southern Japan is spewing ash and rock again as the country struggles with the aftermath of a catastrophic earthquake and tsunami in the north.


Bizarro Earth

Scientists warn Japan faces second monster quake and tsunami

  • Second 'monster' quake could measure almost 8 on the Richter scale
  • Terrible tide of at least 2,000 bodies wash up on the coastline
  • Crews fight to bring reactor at nuclear power plant under control
  • Millions left without food and power and hospitals have no medicine
Devastated Japan today faced the prospect of a second massive earthquake and tsunami even as millions of citizen struggled to come to terms with its biggest-ever natural disaster.

On Friday, a quake measuring 9.0 on the Richter scale caused widespread fatalities and damage, also triggering a huge wave, which prompted the death toll to spiral into many thousands.

At least 2,000 bodies have now washed up on the country's decimated coastline, crematoriums were overflowing with the dead and rescue workers ran out of body bags as the nation faced the reality of its mounting crisis.

japan,earthquake
Devastating: A woman sobs on a road as she surveys the destroyed city of Natori in the region of Miyagi in northern Japan

Video

Japan earthquake: Footage of moment tsunami hit

Newly emerged footage shows the force at which the tsunami struck Japan's coast.

In the fishing port of Miyako, in Iwate prefecture, boats were overturned, while video from Kamaishi city shows cars being dragged down city streets by the water.

The tsunami that followed the 8.9-magnitude earthquake wreaked havoc along a huge stretch of Japan's north-east coast, sweeping far inland and devastating a number of towns and villages. Powerful aftershocks are continuing to hit the region.

Footage courtesy of TV Asahi and TBS


Evil Rays

Full Core Meltdown In Japan Will Send Radiation Over United States

Jet Stream Analysis


Evil Rays

Japanese Officials: Nuclear Fuel Rods Appear to be Melting in 3 Reactors

japan,reactors
© JiJi Press/AFP/Getty ImagesThis aerial view shows the quake-damaged Fukushima nuclear power plant in the Japanese town of Futaba, Fukushima prefecture on March 12, 2011.

Japanese officials confirmed Monday that nuclear fuel rods appear to be melting inside three reactors compromised by Friday's earthquake, though nuclear experts differ on whether the outer chamber of a reactor melting in fact constitutes a partial "meltdown."

Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano said Monday that "although we cannot directly check it, it's highly likely happening."

Unit 3 of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station in northeastern Japan exploded earlier Monday, wounding 11 workers; it had been under emergency watch for an explosion after a hydrogen blast at Unit 1 of the plant on Saturday. Edano said the Unit 3 reactor's inner containment vessel was intact.

Bizarro Earth

Japan reels as second blast rocks nuclear plant

Image

Sendai, Japan - A new explosion at a stricken nuclear power plant hit Japan Monday as it raced to avert a meltdown after a quake-tsunami disaster that is feared to have killed more than 10,000 people.

Searchers found 2,000 bodies in northeastern Miyagi region alone, while millions of Japanese were left without water, electricity, fuel or enough food. Hundreds of thousands more were homeless after the tsunami drowned whole towns.

Panic selling saw stocks close more than six percent lower on the Tokyo bourse on fears for the world's third-biggest economy, as power shortages prompted rolling blackouts and factory shutdowns in quake-hit areas.

Alarm Clock

How the Japan Earthquake Shortened Days on Earth

The massive earthquake that struck northeast Japan Friday (March 11) has shortened the length Earth's day by a fraction and shifted how the planet's mass is distributed.

japan,map
© USGSThis map shows the location of the March 11, 2011 earthquake in Japan, as well as the foreshocks (dotted lines), including a 7.2-magnitude event on March 9, and aftershocks (solid lines). The size of each circle represents the magnitude of the associated quake or shock.

A new analysis of the 8.9-magnitude earthquake in Japan has found that the intense temblor has accelerated Earth's spin, shortening the length of the 24-hour day by 1.8 microseconds, according to geophysicist Richard Gross at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif.

Gross refined his estimates of the Japan quake's impact - which previously suggested a 1.6-microsecond shortening of the day - based on new data on how much the fault that triggered the earthquake slipped to redistribute the planet's mass. A microsecond is a millionth of a second. [Photos: Japan Earthquake and Tsunami in Pictures]

Hourglass

Japan earthquake, tsunami death toll likely above 10,000; survivors worry about supplies

Image
© Unknown
Tokyo - Overwhelmed by a still-growing catastrophe, Japanese authorities struggled Monday to reach buried survivors and the missing, faced roadblocks in delivering aid and raced to contain an expanding nuclear emergency.

Prime Minister Naoto Kan called the crisis the country's toughest challenge since World War II and said that decimated towns along the northeastern coastline were not yet getting the food and supplies they needed.

A series of unstable nuclear plants across the country threatened to compound the nation's difficulties, which started with Friday's double-barreled disasters: first an 8.9-magnitude earthquake, then a tsunami. At the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, one containment building housing an overheated reactor had already exploded. A second explosion, about noon local time Monday, destroyed an outer building at another of the plant's reactors.

Officials said a third reactor at the six-reactor facility had lost its cooling capacity, and the U.S. Seventh Fleet, stationed 100 miles offshore, repositioned its ships and aircraft after some if its personnel came into contact with radioactive contamination.

With a government spokesman saying that the reactor units could be in partial meltdown, an alarmed public struggled to understand the safety implications of trace radiation leakage, even as the government said that public safety was not in danger.

Bizarro Earth

Taiwan: Underwater Volcanoes Pose Risk to Plant, Activists Say

Lungmen Nuclear Power Plant
© Mastehr / WikipediaConstruction of Lungmen Nuclear Power Plant in Taiwan as of March 31st 2006.

The earthquake that hit Japan on Friday last week has provided additional ammunition to environmental activists who are worried that one of Taiwan's nuclear power plants lies within an area known for its underwater volcanoes.

Lee Chao-shing, a professor of applied geosciences at National Taiwan Ocean University, said last year that as many as 70 underwater volcanoes are located within an 80km radius of the soon-to-be-operational Fourth Nuclear Power Plant in Gongliao District, New Taipei City.

Up to 11 of those volcanoes are active, Lee said.

Although atomic regulatory officials dismissed the risks, activists said the authorities should take another look in light of the nuclear incidents in Japan.

The volcanoes, which have the highest concentration near a nuclear plant in the world, could lead to "a serious disaster" in the event of an earthquake or tsunami on the scale of that that struck Japan last week, Lee said.

The extent of their activity can be seen by the nearby presence of crabs, he said, pointing to video that showed hundreds of the crustaceans crawling at the base of what Lee said was an underwater volcano.