Early on New Year's Day, I saw the news that Japan's big island, Honshu, suffered a magnitude-7.6* earthquake whose epicenter was just offshore. If you think of Japan as a giant, eastward-facing seahorse, the epicenter was almost dead center along the seahorse's spine, close to the city of Kanazawa. So far, I'm not seeing any deaths reported, and it could be that Japan's top-notch earthquake preparedness (the nation suffers over 100 quakes a year on average) should be given credit for that. Of course, reports are still coming in, and there was wave activity caused by the seismic agitation. What a way to start the new year.
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*Also variously reported as 7.4 and 7.5.
UPDATE, 6 p.m.: the death toll is now 30 and counting.
The latest I heard was five deaths by this morning. I think it probably could have been worse, although any deaths are of course bad.
ReplyDeleteAccording to the Beeb, the death toll is now at 48.
ReplyDeleteUp to 55 now. The fun never stops.
ReplyDelete