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EARTHQUAKE in Tokyo


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                             Click for Tokyo, Japan Forecast

                                                                       ^^^^^^Local Tokyo Time^^^^^^



3-11-2011 - This is a note to let those of you trying to check up on me know that I'm OK. The place is a wreck but I have electricity, water, and I think gas. Trains are down so those stuck at the office are there for a while; no real problems there, everyone is fine. The building is still shaking every once in a while and we're 4+ hours after the main shakeup. Post more as I can, back to trying to clean up and take stock of what is damaged. Contact all when I am able.

9pm local- 6+ hours post quake still after shocks. Cleanup is slow going and I'm avoiding the worst parts right now trying to get the living areas cleared (kitchen, toilet, bed room). Bug out bag and other gear by the front door if I need to leave. ;-)

Check here for the latest on the quake(s):

US Geological Society - Edited link for a more Tokyo centric page.

Japan Meteorological Agency

NHK Broadcasting Network

BBC - British Broadcasting Corporation

Photos - The photo gallery is still on my website but it is experimental hence the reason it looks different from the rest of the site. Just click the large 4WARND logo at the top to return to the main site.

Quake pic 1

Quake pic 2

*** More photos added.*** Rather than posting individual links to each photo just click on either of the original photo links above and then click on "Next" or "Previous" inside the gallery. There are other photos in the gallery as well, feel free to look around.


11pm - still getting shakes every now and again. On a "normal" day here they would be noticed but not much else. I keep waiting for the other shoe to drop. As big a mess as it is in my place I figure I was lucky. Of course that thought may change as I dig through this mess. They tell me that the server at the office is down, quake related maybe, but I just did a backup that I have with me so we should be good to go once we get cleaned up and back at it. Trains are still down and even Narita airport is down. People are walking home, don't envy them it's cold out.

12:01am 3/12/2011- Just had another shake, enough to hear the building creak and swing my "seismometer fish mobile" pretty well.

2:20am - Was about to announce the all clear but just had a little rocking, not a lot but things that are hanging around are moving a bit. Think I'm going to call it a day and sleep in my clothes just in case.

9:30am - Lost an update because my service provider decided I needed a password change in the middle of my post. Slept crash free but was awakened about 4am with a pretty good shake, magnitude 6.2 from USGS. If you have an iPhone/iPad/iPod Touch there's a free app called Quakes - Earthquake Notification that's pretty good. Put in my location, latitude 35.63894 longitude 139.55145 and it will update you on the quakes here.

10:20am - I keep thinking that I haven't gotten my sea-legs yet because I still feel like I'm moving but I look at the fish mobile and see that I am in fact still moving. It's swinging as I type now. Need to get back to the clean up, these posts only postpone the inevitable (little known secret: I hate house cleaning). This project brings new meaning to "Spring Cleaning", hope I find some change in the couch.

"quake caused a rupture 186 miles long and 93 miles wide" - fixed link

4:10pm - An odd jolt a couple minutes ago, not the swaying like before but a sharp up and down movement. Didn't last long so I only took a break from clearing this mess to post since it'll probably set off the detectors that shout "quake" to the world. . . Yep just looked at JMA site and there I am though I don't know what a Japanese level 2 equates to on the Richter Scale. (added: Japanese Earthquake Scale)

8:48pm - This last aftershock lasted over one minute. I'm going to be annoyed if my cleaning efforts are laid waste. ;-)

10:19pm - Biggest since early this morning; toilet sloshing and ceiling creaking. Talking to a friend at the time. They said 'quake' then about 15 seconds later it hit here. Also thought I'd mention that the nuclear reactors with the problems, including the one that blew up, are not near me. (Unless they've added a new one that I don't know about.)

9:44am 3/13/2011 - Around 3am last night things seemed pretty normal, minor movement is all, so I went to bed this time without my work clothes on. I was rousted this morning around 8:20am by a 6.1 shock. Actually it barely registered on my fight or flight meter, rolled over and tried to go back to sleep. Weird when the earth moving becomes a sleep annoyance but then I was never a morning person.

10:30 - Another minute+ toilet shaker. Seems this is going to take a while to settle down.

IAEA article about the nuclear problems.

NASA Earth Observatory photos

Japan earthquake shifted Earth on its axis - LA Times - ". . . moved parts of eastern Japan as much as 12 feet closer to North America, scientists said and that Japan has shifted downward about two feet." - fixed link

8:07pm - Well today has been relatively quiet only a few noticeable aftershocks. I've got the big steel tool chest, in photo 2 above, unloaded (top) and upright (bottom) though not the two re-stacked. I think I'll wait for some help on that perhaps. They're talking about rolling blackouts so I may get a chance to use more of my flashlights; yee haw.

Quake upgraded to 9.0

12:08am 3/14/2011 - Rolling blackouts start today. The problem with the nuke plants has giving the power company a 25% shortfall. Guess I'll get to use my survival stuff after all; need to dig out the solar panel though. ;-)

12:20am - A bit of clarification on photo 2 above. The reason the TV at the far end of the photo isn't on the ground is because that's what I decided to save and so held on to it and the steel doorframe to the right. The TV has a webbing strap screwed into the 2x4 shelf on which it sits but the top was moving about a foot back and forth and the whole mess was trying to walk off the shelf on the far end away from where I held it.

11:19am - Had a good shake this morning around 10am lasted long enough that I went to the TV just in case. Didn't last or get stronger so it was OK. The first of the black outs hit soon and I'm going into the office if I can so may not post here again for a while.

9:35pm - Back from work only felt one aftershock there, wasn't bad. Can't believe nothing got thrown around there. Only problem seems to be a bunch of computer problems, might have been an electrical thing. Router, printers, and server were all scrambled; some I fixed others I worked around for now. Was expecting a blacked out building when I got back here, guess they changed their minds again. The office area in Harajuku was a ghost town. Major department stores and many others were closed to try and save energy I'm told. I didn't see any building damage but I wasn't out taking a survey either. I'm told that Tokyo Tower is bent from the shaking. Stores are out of lots of things primary among them are toilet paper, water and instant ramen. The electronics shop I use was out of batteries and flashlights. Glad I have a couple squirreled away somewhere. ;-)

Google Crisis Response

12:48 3/15/2011 - A couple of good shakes last night/early morning. I'd say "nothing to write home about" but that's exactly what I'm doing. ;-) Already got a call from the office, still have computer weirdness going on there. Also added photos, see that section above. I changed to the Blog space just to try and clean things up a bit. I never planned on keeping a Blog so I never set up the site to handle it. Unfortunately my web skills are lacking and all of these entries are hard coded as a result. I'm sure there is an easier way but it would require learning it and I just don't have time right now.

5:17pm - Was headed into work but they called and said most of our industry is down until Monday next week so they were going home early so I stayed here. It gave me a chance to do a little prep for the upcoming blackout (6:20pm) and possible water problems. I went to the local store and found it just as striped as the Chofu and other stores. Also looks like the our building did get some damage. The water tanks on the ground floor have sprung leaks. Looks like the plates separated at the joints. I'm hoping the ones on the roof that feed my floor are OK. Also noticed that the lightning rod was bent about 15-20 degrees part way up the shaft. I didn't see any building structure damage so hopefully that's ok. I've read that they are anticipating a possible 7+ aftershock by week's end. I need to find a way to stabilize my TV better and double check the stuff that hasn't already fallen down.

9:39pm - I haven't been giving reports of all the smaller aftershocks but thought I'd mention that they still continue and I saw on the TV that for this quake the number of aftershocks was more than double that of previous large quakes. If I recall correctly they said the quake area was 500x250 kilometers and that within that area there had already been three aftershocks above 7. I was in California for the 1/17/1994 Northridge quake that was 6.7 magnitude. The Kobe (Great Hanshin) earthquake exactly a year later, 1/17/1995, was 6.8. Everyone is concerned about the predicted large aftershock.

9:57 - On the nuclear front we've been told that because of a wind change over night some radiation has made it to the Tokyo area but it is not harmful. As an example the highest reading for Shinjuku (0.809mSv) was the equivalent of roughly 1/50th of a chest x-ray (50mSv). The highest reading up the coast nearer the plant was about half a chest x-ray. They also say that a flight from Tokyo to NYC is ~200mSv. It's all Greek to me but to the best of my understanding, if we are to believe those providing the information, we are OK for now especially if the winds return to blowing offshore which they are supposed to do. If things start going downhill I may have to bug out of Tokyo. I'm not sure where I would go right now but I don't believe that it is to that stage yet. We offered to take our people to the Philippines but they all have family here so they declined and I understand but I wish I could do something for them besides providing flashlights and comforting speeches.

10:17pm - Another note, the planed rolling blackout for my area failed to materialize again. That's not really a bad thing but it makes the lead up to it a bit stressful. They called it off about 15 minutes after it was supposed to start. They announced both the blackout times and the cancelation over loud speakers that are sufficiently close to one another that the echo renders them very nearly unintelligible. That's one area that they could really use a little of their famous technology to get rid of the echo and make the announcements useful. I saw on the TV that places where the sudden cancelations occurred really messed up businesses that closed early fearing the outage. It's hard enough to do business without the government pulling the rug out from under you at random intervals.

10:33pm - I think we might have just gotten our predicted big aftershock. Whitecaps in the bathtub I've filled with emergency water and lots of swinging going on. Fortunately nothing fell this time; of course it could be because most of it is still on the floor.

10:52pm - Nope false alarm. It was only 4.8 but a lot closer, near Chiba (50 miles East of Tokyo), than the first one (230 miles North East of Tokyo).(Updated - one in Chiba preceeded one in Shizuoka (75mi from Tokyo) that was 6.1) Sourced USGS feed.

2:07pm 3/16/2011 - Rolling blackout scheduled for 3:20pm-7pm. This one might actually go into effect. There have been more pretty good shakes but no falling stuff so that's good. We are looking into leaving Tokyo and going to Osaka and evaluate our options from there. I'm trying to save as much data I can and looking to travel as light as I can (which will be tough for me). It's hard to think of leaving here, for too many reasons to explain right now. I feel that I can fight quakes, tsunami, cold, no power, water, etc., but I can't do anything about nuclear fallout. Frankly being helpless pisses me off. I'm sure that's pride or some other failing of mine but to quote that sage Popeye "I am what I am and that's all that I am." I'll be taking gear that should keep me online. I'll post here as I am able.


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