Japan begins huge relief effort: hundreds killed but more feared disappeared

Saturday, March 12th 2011 - 05:21 UTC

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A mammoth relief mission is swinging into action in north-east Japan, a day after it was struck by a devastating tsunami, claiming hundreds of lives. Whole villages have been washed away and at least one town has been largely destroyed. Read full article

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GeoffWard
My heart-felt commiserations to all those suffering in Japan.

An 8.8 in Chile last year, and now an 8.8 in Japan.

The Richter Scale measures the magnitude of earthquakes. The magnitude value is proportional to the logarithm of the amplitude of the strongest wave during an earthquake.
A recording of 7, for example, indicates a disturbance with ground motion 10 times as large as a recording of 6. The energy released by an earthquake increases by a factor of 30 for every unit increase in the Richter scale.

An 8+ magnitude should happen somewhere around the world's plate margins each 5-10 years, so two occurances in sequential years is not 'extraordinary'.
Now, should there be one next year as well . . . . . .

I am confidentally expecting increasingly frequent, severly chaotic and spasmic weather episodes as a result of anthropogenic impacts, but I could not expect this to influence, let alone generate, earthquakes and tsunamis.

If the frequency of 8+ events increases beyond statistical expectation we have REAL cause for concern.
Mar 12th, 2011 - 09:14 pm - Link - Report abuse 0
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