The 1707 Hōei earthquake was the largest in Japanese history until the 2011 Sendai earthquake surpassed it. The 8.6 earthquake and the resulting destructive tsunami caused more than 5,000 casualties in 1707. This event ruptured ALL of the segments of the Nankai megathrust simultaneously, the only earthquake known to have done this. It may also have triggered the last eruption of Mount Fuji some 49 days later.
The Nankai megathrust has five distinct segments that can rupture independently. Megathrust earthquakes on this structure TEND TO OCCUR IN PAIRS, with a RELATIVELY SHORT TIME GAP between them. In addition to two events in 1854, there were similar earthquakes in 1944 and 1946. In each case, the NORTHEASTERN SEGMENT RUPTURED BEFORE the southwestern segment. In the 1707 event, the earthquakes were either simultaneous, or close enough in time, to not be distinguished by historical sources.
Wednesday morning- A 6.0 magnitude earthquake has struck in the Pacific just off Japan's Chiba prefecture with the force strong enough to sway buildings in Tokyo. No tsunami warning has been immediately issued but the Japan Meteorological Agency has warned of a possible change in sea levels.
whichever interpretation prevails at a given time
is a function of power and not truth.**
Friedrich Nietzsche
LARGEST QUAKES -
This morning -
5.5 NEAR EAST COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN
5.3 NEAR EAST COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN
6.0 NEAR EAST COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN
5.0 OFF EAST COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN
5.0 OFF EAST COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN
5.2 FIJI REGION
Yesterday -
3/15/11 -
5.4 OFF EAST COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN
5.0 NEAR EAST COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN
5.8 NEAR EAST COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN
5.2 OFF EAST COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN
5.3 NEAR EAST COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN
5.1 OFF EAST COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN
6.0 OFF EAST COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN
5.2 NEAR EAST COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN
6.1 EASTERN HONSHU, JAPAN
5.8 OFF EAST COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN
5.0 NEAR EAST COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN
5.2 NEAR EAST COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN
5.3 OFF EAST COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN
5.3 NEAR EAST COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN
6.1 OFF EAST COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN
5.3 OFF EAST COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN
5.4 OFF EAST COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN
5.1 NEAR EAST COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN
5.0 OFF EAST COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN
5.1 OFF EAST COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN
5.1 OFF EAST COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN
5.0 LAKE ALBERT REGION, UGANDA
LATEST JAPAN NEWS -
06:23 - Workers at the Fukushima plant have returned after being evacuated.
04:56 - Evacuation of French nationals from Japan will begin on Thursday. Two French planes are already on their way to Japan.
03:20 - Staff were evacuated from Fukushima because of a spike in radiation levels.
02:21 - Authorities are still looking for the cause of white smoke billowing from reactor 3 at Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. The radiation reading at the plant is fluctuating by the hour.
01:31 - "China announces it will start radiation checks on Japanese goods arriving at ports and airports."
01:17 - Live Japanese television pictures appear to show white smoke still billowing in the area of the building housing the No.4 reactor at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, despite reports that a new fire there was under control.
01:03 - "120 maguro tuna at an experimental fish farm in Wakayama mysteriously died suddenly yesterday. Experts suspect it was related to the tsunami."
00:56 - Japan's central bank has injected a further $43bn (£26.75bn) into the money markets to ease the impact of quake.
00:08 - The Japanese authorities are still struggling to cope with the humanitarian aftermath of Friday's earthquake and tsunami. More than 500,000 people are living in temporary shelters, which are short of water, food and fuel - while more freezing weather and snow is predicted for the days ahead. Nearly 3,500 people are now known to have died and many more remain unaccounted for.
JAPAN - The official toll of the dead and missing following a devastating earthquake and tsunami that flattened Japan's northeast coast has topped 11,000, with 3,676 confirmed dead.
Aviation regulators in London have issued a formal warning over the possible radioactive hazard from Japan's stricken Fukushima nuclear power plant. London Volcanic Ash Advisory Centre, the world's focal point for notifying the aviation industry of International Atomic Energy Agency warnings on the release of radioactive material, issued a message covering 10 regions. The open-ended warning, issued at 2pm AEDT on Wednesday, applies to airspace zones in Japan, Russia, China, the United States and South Korea.
Most carriers are still flying to Tokyo, but German airline Lufthansa Tuesday diverted flights from the capital to other Japanese airports.
AUSTRALIA'S food safety authority is investigating the possible risk that products imported from Japan could become contaminated with radiation. Food Standards Australia New Zealand said a probe now underway will assess a narrow band of imported products including seaweed, wasabi and soy sauce. The results of the probe will be handed to the Australian Quarantine and Inspection Service to assist them in determining what additional border action is needed if any.
European centres set to take radiation victims - More than 500 bone marrow transplant centres in Europe have been asked to receive victims of the nuclear accident in Japan if necessary. "We're working to the model that we might be required to take 200 or more people" suffering the effects of radiation, "but I think it is remote that that would happen," said the head of the European Group for Blood and Marrow Transplantation 's Nuclear Accident Committee. Tthe EBMT today asked all of its 536 centres by email if they would be able to treat some patients, who had suffered radiation exposure from the quake-hit Fukushima No.1 plant in Japan. "You will be aware there is real concern about the possibility that a significant number of workers attempting to control the damaged nuclear power station" in Japan might receive "doses or whole body radiation over the next week or so. In the unlikely event that many Japanese power station workers are irradiated (but not contaminated), we would like to evaluate the capacity to provide humanitarian treatment in EU countries if Japanese medical resources are overwhelmed."
The workers at the plant would not suffer any effects of radiation for another three days, "so that's why we put this in place three days in advance". Not all the victims would have to undergo bone marrow transplants, and many would merely need antibiotics or blood transfusions. "If it really does evolve into a major radiation problem and there are several hundred victims, then I think that the humanitarian response on a worldwide basis will be huge." The NAC had been "practising training and education and selecting centres of excellence in Europe that could respond to a general emergency in Europe or the world, such as could potentially happen in Japan".
Germany on Tuesday became the first European country to shut nuclear plants in the wake of the crisis in Japan as the European Union made plans to test all 143 nuclear power plants in its 27 countries. Germany shut down 7 plants.
MYSTERY BOOMS -
SOUTH CAROLINA - 314/11 - Booms revive an old mystery. The first boom sounded like thunder. The second shook windows. The third shook an entire house. Then they quieted, mysteriously. The series of booms were reported Monday afternoon by people on Kiawah and Johns islands and Isle of Palms. At least three booms, each more intense than the last, occurred within 15 minutes starting about 3:30 p.m. "There's another one. The third one, just now. It's like thunder getting closer to us, only there's no rumble, just a blast. Have you ever been around dynamite? A pretty good charge when they're blowing up stumps, that's what it's like."
Seismographs at the College of Charleston did not report any earthquakes. A public affairs officer for the Marine Corps Air Station in Beaufort said no F-18s were flying in the area at that time. A public affairs officer for the Charleston Air Force Base said C-17s were operating, but not fast enough to cause sonic booms.
That likely leaves the strange phenomenon of the Seneca Guns, the unexplained booms that have been reported along coasts around the world almost as long as people have lived there. The sound is so close to the blast of a cannon that folk legend in the East says it's made by the guns of Seneca Indians, fired to get revenge on the settlers who displaced them.
The booms have been blamed on gases released from the sea floor, undersea landslides along the Continental Shelf, the echoed sound of distant thunder, lightning-like electrical discharges that don't cause lightning, even meteors crashing into the atmosphere at angles. But so far, nobody has been able to say for sure what causes them.
VOLCANOES -
Erupting volcano adds to Japan's woes - Sunday's eruption, which was THE BIGGEST VOLCANIC ACTIVITY IN 52 YEARS at Shinmoedake, caused widespread destruction and panic. The Shinmoedake volcano resumed activity after lying dormant for a couple of weeks. The volcano, on Kyushu island is about 950 miles from the epicenter of Friday's magnitude 9.0 earthquake, which devastated much of the country's northeastern coast. It's not yet known if the eruptions were linked to quake, officials said. Japan lies on the "ring of fire," a seismically active zone where earthquakes and volcanic eruptions are common.
The volcano erupted January 19 after remaining dormant for two years. Volcanologists had warned that a "lava dome" was growing inside the volcano's crater, although it was uncertain when or if the volcano would erupt. The blast could be heard for miles, and shattered windows four miles away. Hundreds of people fled the area as the volcano spewed debris, including hot ash and rocks, more than 6,000 feet in the air.
TAIWAN - Underwater volcanoes pose risk to nuclear plant, activists say. 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. As many as 70 underwater volcanoes are located within an 80km radius of the soon-to-be-operational Fourth Nuclear Power Plant in Gongliao Distric, New Taipei City. Up to 11 of those volcanoes are active.
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 are 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. The Fourth Nuclear Power Plant — also known as the Longmen plant — is expected to come online this year or next year.
“The findings support ... the view that a natural disaster off Taiwan would have even more serious consequences than [what is happening] at Fukushima."
“The reactors in the nuclear plant would be more unstable in the event of an earthquake. There are active volcanoes all around it." Responding to the concerns, nuclear regulatory officials said the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant is safe, pointing to its location on stable bedrock and multiple backup systems, which officials say exceed those Japan had in place. “We believe that [construction of] the fourth nuclear plant can continue as planned."
TROPICAL STORMS -
No current tropical cyclones.
SEVERE RAIN STORMS, FLOODING, LANDSLIDES -
AUSTRALIA - More than 100 people have been evacuated from a severely flooded town in Western Australia's east Kimberley region, where 45 homes have been destroyed and another 20 remain uninhabitable.
