Posted on 08/12/2024 8:14:40 PM PDT by nickcarraway
The warning of a tremor that could kill more than 320,000 people is forcing Japan to think of the abstract danger of disaster in more concrete terms, says Gearoid Reidy for Bloomberg Opinion.
To live in Japan is to live with the risk of a devastating earthquake at any time. Usually, however, people tend to view that threat in the abstract. It’s kind of like thinking about death - I know I’ll die someday, but I hope it won’t be today. And so far, at least, I keep getting lucky. Until we don’t. Thursday’s announcement from Japanese authorities, warning of an increased risk of a long-feared megaquake, forced citizens to consider the very real and immediate danger of an event that would devastate the country and upend life as we know it.
Following a 7.1 magnitude tremor off Kyushu, the country’s weather agency issued for the first time ever a warning that the likelihood of the long-feared Nankai Trough quake had increased “by several times”.
The fault, stretching some 900km down Japan’s Pacific coast from Shizuoka to Shikoku, is feared for a reason. It has caused temblors of magnitude 8 or more, accompanied by devastating tsunamis, around every 100 to 150 years. The country has repeatedly warned that another is imminent, with estimates of a 60 per cent probability of it hitting in the next 20 years, and 90 per cent in the next 40 years. Now, authorities are saying that peril has become even higher. People were unsure how to react. What does “relatively higher” risk mean? Should we change our plans? Was this a warning, or a prediction?
(Excerpt) Read more at channelnewsasia.com ...
Not this crap again.
Thanks for the update. There was insight into Japan’s trying to balance preparation.
That’s really all you can do is prepare with everything that might be needed in the even of a megaquake.
Not this crap again.
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If you were in Japan, you would take notice of this “crap”.
Mrs. VanShuyten and I are headed there this winter to visit her elderly mother and her brothers and assorted friends. She read this warning today, and started worrying a little bit. One place we’re headed to is Shizuoka, which is overdue for a major shake.
Fortunately, her mom is staying with a brother who lives well away from the coast NW of Tokyo.
For the last year, just off Japan's northeast coast, a thousand square miles of super heated sea surface water forms (minimum anomaly +5 degrees C), then expands to ten times its original size, then flows straight east across the Pacific, and finally dissipates when it hits the cold water off the Washington state coast line.
My own thought - only massive volcanic or thermal vent activity could cause something that large.
But, I have not seen one word of commentary, from the Global Climate Elite, about this huge temperature anomaly.
Lived in Japan for a bit.
No, you really don't take notice of this crap because there is dang all you can do to prevent an earthquake and not much you can do to prepare for one beyond the basics.
When the ground opens up and you fall into a chasm which snaps back shut a few seconds later there is not much to be done.
I see your points, but it never hurts to remind some such as yourself and make others aware.
I also lived in Japan, was there for the 2011 quake.. nope not much to be done except to know how to evacuate quickly if you live within 2 blocks of the ocean.
Very good post. I had never heard about that huge temperature anomaly either. Thanks.
The leading environmentalists are certainly aware of it but don’t say anything because it would take away from “man-made” global warming.
There is no warning. There is no preparing. There is only surviving.
It is the most helpless you will ever feel because there is nothing to do but stand in the doorway and pray like you have never prayed before while the ground heaves under your feet and things fall. There is a roar that can not be described and it goes on and on and on.
And then it is over and you are alive but a bunch of other people are not and you can hear the screaming and the moaning of those who are hurt.
You do what you can but unless you travel with a full med kit you can only do so much.
And a few minutes later, the aftershocks start.
I was in the S. Bay Area, Mountain View, for the Loma Prieta quake in 1989. That was only 6.9 magnitude. Even so, it scarred me. The next quake I felt was in Maryland, in 2009. I froze in fear for the first 5 seconds.
I forgot to mention that in the Loma Prieta quake I was working in the basement of a building put up in 1963. The false ceiling above me was 2 inches of reinforced concrete, suspended by wires. I was under my steel desk like a shot.
WUWT is the most visited Climate Skeptic website in the world.
Lots of scientists and engineers hang out there. I have asked about the Japan anomaly several times, but no one on the Skeptic side has responded.
On the Home Page, scroll down the right margin about 70% for the latest Sea Surface Temp map.
The WUWT right margin is full of charts and data that is very helpful.
The web site is currently being re-modeled.
Refresh the Home Page at least once before scrolling.
Otherwise, none of the charts and data load for some reason.
I live very close to the recent earthquake in Miyazaki , and have lived through the 2 giant ( 7+ ) quakes that hit our city 8 years ago within 28 hours . NOT crap !
Nankai trough map image-
The last really big one was in 1923, so Japan is in that 100-150 year window.
Santa Cruz/Monterey. Are they set up for the big one?
Might be best to sell the house to some chump while the value is up.
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