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8.9 earthquake hits Japan

earthquake.usgs.gov

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Re: 8.9 earthquake hits Japan

#21

Post by koenigdavidmj »

patio11 wrote: post #15
invisiblefunnel wrote: post #4

Patrick McKenzie tweet https://twitter.com/#!/patio11/status/46086466836762624

So since most of y'all understand American geography better than Japanese geography: My friends in Osaka (San Fran) felt it. I live in Ogaki (Kansas). There was a mild panic in the mall, and our trains stopped for a few minutes. Folks in Tokyo are largely shaken but not terribly affected (Boston/DC ish). Miyagi/etc (Maine-ish) got a wee bit whacked by a tsunami. They had a few minutes of warning. Reports will come in…

Osaka is kind of cool but gets a bit...weird...at times, there isn't much to speak of in Ogaki, and Miyagi is a fishing town?

Re: 8.9 earthquake hits Japan

#23

Post by ugh »

mitko wrote: post #16
invisiblefunnel wrote: post #4

Patrick McKenzie tweet https://twitter.com/#!/patio11/status/46086466836762624

I don't want to be disrespectful to anybody affected by the earthquake but your comment made me remember this: http://xkcd.com/723/

I actually first heard about this earthquake on Twitter (all eyewitness reports, no second hand information). I immediately checked all news sites I could think of (European, US) but none were yet reporting on it.

Re: 8.9 earthquake hits Japan

#25

Post by po »

I'm still feeling shakes every few minutes. It's like living in a house on a block of jello. Long rolling waves. I'm in central Tokyo and our china cabinet was shaken pretty badly:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/poswald/5516954100/in/photostre...

I know some people up in sendai that I'm a bit worried about.

Re: 8.9 earthquake hits Japan

#27

Post by patio11 »

apsurd wrote: post #17

Is there any system currently able to mass-call all cellphones from any/all carriers within a given geo-location radius? Or any type of push notification service for natural disasters. Seems like this happened during the day but watching the news made me think about disasters that happen at night. How are people notified to get the hell out of there??

How are people notified to get the hell out of there??

Are you familiar with the term "air raid siren"? The coast is wall-to-wall peppered with squack boxes. About a minute prior to the earthquake there would have been a "Earthquake is imminent -- brace yourself." broadcast and within a minute there would have been a "A tsunami warning is in effect for (here). Go to shelter immediately. Repeat..."

There are a couple levels of alerts they can pull, from "Be careful" to "MOVE NOW." Miyagi just got "MOVE NOW."

Re: 8.9 earthquake hits Japan

#28

Post by flyt »

ugh wrote: post #23
mitko wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't want to be disrespectful to anybody affected by the earthquake but your comment made me remember this: http://xkcd.com/723/

I actually first heard about this earthquake on Twitter (all eyewitness reports, no second hand information). I immediately checked all news sites I could think of (European, US) but none were yet reporting on it.

Facebook for me; I know two people living near Tokyo that instantly updated their statuses and it just snowballed from there.

It took the US news (nytimes.com) at least 20 minutes to have anything up, but twitter and facebook exploded instantly.

Re: 8.9 earthquake hits Japan

#29

Post by apsurd »

patio11 wrote: post #27
apsurd wrote: post #17

Is there any system currently able to mass-call all cellphones from any/all carriers within a given geo-location radius? Or any type of push notification service for natural disasters. Seems like this happened during the day but watching the news made me think about disasters that happen at night. How are people notified to get the hell out of there??

How are people notified to get the hell out of there?? Are you familiar with the term "air raid siren"? The coast is wall-to-wall peppered with squack boxes. About a minute prior to the earthquake there would have been a "Earthquake is imminent -- brace yourself." broadcast and within a minute there would have been a "A tsunami warning is in effect for (here). Go to shelter immediately. Repeat..." There are a couple…

Thanks Patrick, that's refreshing to hear.

Re: 8.9 earthquake hits Japan

#30

Post by cosmok »

suyash wrote: post #26

Is this post appropriate for HN?

Not according to the guidelines:

    "Off-Topic: Most stories about politics, or crime, or        sports, unless they're evidence of some interesting new phenomenon. Videos of pratfalls or disasters, or cute animal pictures. If they'd cover it on TV news, it's probably off-topic."
But, I don't mind it all as I get to read views and firsthand accounts from fellow hackers that is much different from what I see on TV.
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