Earthquakes and Sirens..

[Garp]

8.9 Earthquake has struck off the coast of Japan.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-12709598

Quite a bit of damage, though they were saying on Al Jazeera earlier that the buildings there are designed with large earthquakes in mind and have coped reasonably well.

Hawaii and many of the pacific facing coasts have come under Tsunami Warning. The Sirens have just gone off for about 3 minutes here as an initial warning and they're just clearing the beaches. Anything that hits us is expected to arrive by 3am. We should be okay here, we're on the 3rd floor (UK counting style ;)), and we're far enough back from the beach that we shouldn't have any problems.

[Will]

Heard on the news driving to work this morning that there may have been a confirmed death already. :(

Hope the damage is limited and that they can restore normality asap.

[Jonny69]

Fingers crossed for you Jarp.

Watching the morning news as it all happened was a bit shocking.

[Mark]

Fingers crossed.

Didn't watch it 'live'. Thankfully. Reports of trucks and cars being swept up by the tsunami (in Japan).

[Knipples]

Fingers crossed you two (and those around you) stay safe. I can't imagine what that must feel like - something coming towards you that you have no chance of stopping or controlling.

Pictures on the tv of Japan looked awful :(

[Tak]

* waits for Kamikaze_Pigeon to post ... *

[Kitten]

he's fine Sam :)

[Mark]

Sounds like all my work colleagues in Osaka and Tokyo are OK, so that's everyone I know accounted for. Phew!

[Garp]

Water levels have started to rise now. It's 2:45 in Hawaii and the Tsunami sirens have been going off every hour since 10pm, and now 30 minutes. Expectations are for the first wave to hit at 3:15. I've been catnapping between sirens but now up and drinking decaf tea whilst I wait for whatever happens.

Expectation is that we'll see maybe 6 1/2 ft peak that will come in about a block (we're several in). Whilst 6 1/2 ft waves are hardly unusual here, in fact pretty much just good surfing height, it's that the whole ocean is basically raising 6 1/2 ft that presents the problem!

[Dymetrie]

Hope it's not too bad, when it hits, and that everyone over there is ok.

[Garp]

http://www.hawaiinewsnow.com/Global/category.asp?C=176904 <- Live Streaming.

So far we're seeing the elevated levels. Expectation is the first wave won't be the highest, probably the 2nd or 3rd.

[Kitten]

Can't access it in work but will keep checking the text updates. Stay safe x

[Kitten]

Heard on the news driving to work this morning that there may have been a confirmed death already. :(

Hope the damage is limited and that they can restore normality asap.

60 so far.

[petemc]

Up to 200-300 bodies found now :( Hoping the nuclear plant sorts itself out. 2-3km evac zone.

Hope its not too bad for you Garp.

[Will]

60 so far.

Oh no. :( Amazing how much can happen in a few hours. :(

[Justsomebloke]

Thinking of ya mate, Best of Luck & my respects go out to those lost & who have lost.

[Kitten]

Up to 200-300 bodies found now :( Hoping the nuclear plant sorts itself out. 2-3km evac zone.

Hope its not too bad for you Garp.

Jesus. How awful.

[Garp]

We're doing well here. Reports now suggest all should be good, seeing 3-4ft but nothing critical, expectation is minor isolated damage rather than a major damage event. I've had a text telling me that work is closed for the day. Good given most of us our now pushing on 24 hour days with just a few hours of catnapping between Tsunami warning sirens (just like Air Raid sirens in the movies, bloody loud and nearly impossible to sleep through.)

Mostly we've seen the water withdraw a few hundred feet back from the sea front, exposing reefs.

Now back to hoping and praying for the folks in Japan.

[Kitten]

Mostly we've seen the water withdraw a few hundred feet back from the sea front, exposing reefs.

Now back to hoping and praying for the folks in Japan.

That's what happened before the big one hit in 2009. After the first few waves the water went right out then came back with a vengeance. Hope it's as you think and it's not going to be that bad x

[Kamikaze_Pigeon]

Just a quick post to say all is well in Osaka! Felt the quake in Osaka, but just a minor tremor for us here. To be honest it's been pretty much business as usual here in Osaka. Saying that, haven't really had a chance to watch the news over here, but from what I've read, this one has been pretty much big news globally. Safe to say, Japan is pretty well equipet to deal with disasters of this magnitude!

[Pheebs]

Hope all is well, have been worried all day! Flew back home and on here to find out whether you guys were okay!

*phew*

Now to call Tigersan and Taeko... *concerned*

[Matblack]

Thanks for posting Con, as soon as I heard the first thing to pop in to my head was 'where is Conrad located and is he OK?'

MB

[Garp]

Looks like Japan's extremely strict building codes have done their job, if I'm understanding this coverage correctly it looks like most deaths and damage have been done by the Tsunami, not the mind blowingly powerful 9.1 earthquake (9.1 is twice as powerful as the 8.9 first reported!)

[Burble]

I had an email from an ex of mine who lives on Tokyo. She's fine, she was in Beijing on business and felt the quake.

[Pheebs]

All's well on my front. Tigersan called me Pa (he's in his late 50's, insists on calling me "JOOODAY FOOOH STA" as of my connection with the police he thinks I look like Jodie Foster in Silence of the Lambs) and the convo went like this:

Tigersan: "AHhh we ahh vehrey wewll faahnkoo. Goh Joday Foo Sta's emaiyl, say faahnkoo. Tigersah soo goo, Tigersah play Danyell Sahn (Daniel Son - it's what he calls me Pa) a sohn ohn traampeh."

*cue 5 minutes of trumpet playing down the phone - no talking during at all*

What. A. Nutter. So glad him and his family are well though :)

[Roberta]

Haha! Ace!

My sister called from NZ to tell me their tsunami amounted to a whole 10cm.